


The Wedding Routine

by Toward_The_Horizon



Category: Golden Child (Korea Band), K-pop, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: .....because i can, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angels, Angst?, Crack, Druids, Elves, Fae & Fairies, Fake Dating, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Humour, Realistic, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Shifters, Supernatural Elements, Vampires, Werewolf puns, Werewolves, Witches, and cause hes a lil evil anyway so, i make jeonghan from seventeen a villain in this, kpop, maybe a little, seventeen are background characters, supernaturals pretending to be human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 90,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26720464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toward_The_Horizon/pseuds/Toward_The_Horizon
Summary: Sungyoon doesn't know what possessed him to think it was a good idea, joining college a semester late. He's nervous enough as it is to meet all of these new people, so much more adjusted than he is, avoiding his flatmates as best he can, trying not to stick out in class as the New Kid, but to make matters worse, there's a boy in his class that has taken an interest in him, and won't take no for an answer.When a friendly stranger called Jibeom takes him under his wing almost immediately, he ends up confessing about his new problem. Jibeom mentions one of his friends, a boy Sungyoon has yet to meet who had helped him out at a family wedding. Somehow, Sungyoon finds himself with a fake boyfriend, a mysterious dark haired boy who also happens to be on the track team, too, and always hiding behind dark sunglasses. Jangjun had agreed to pretend to date him to drive his stalker away, but with him comes another group of boys, all warm and friendly and welcoming, but...strange, to say the least. There's something about them all that Sungyoon just can't put his finger on...That's how a group of supernatural creatures find themselves having to pretend to be human for the foreseeable future. Should be easy, right?
Relationships: Bae Seungmin/Kim Donghyun, Choi Sungyoon | Y/Lee Jangjun, Lee Daeyeol/ Kim Jibeom
Comments: 99
Kudos: 160





	1. Arrival

His suitcase bumps over the uneven asphalt as Sungyoon drags it behind him, eyes focused on a campus map, squinting in the dimness of the sunset, cursing himself for confusing his stop on the subway. He should have been here hours ago, when it was still light out, but he’d messed up changing carriages, and had to wait for the next train. He’s also hopelessly, hopelessly lost.

There are many things he excels at, but directions are irritatingly not one of them. Growing up in the middle of nowhere has not prepared him for the busy layout of the city, nor the campus map's winding paths and tiny numbered posts. He’s almost certain he’s seen that tree before. He’s walking in circles.

He’d ask someone where his dorm block was, if there were anyone else crazy enough to be wandering around after dark, but he hasn’t bumped into any other students yet. He’d petted a very handsome tabby cat a while back, sitting on one of the benches he’d passed, but it hadn’t followed him. So now it’s just him and the occasional bird cry, his phone screen illuminating what it can of the map, and the scrape of his case behind him. At least he’d packed light.

He rounds a corner and finds himself almost back where he started, surrounded by benches and trees outside what he’s pretty sure is a science building- nowhere he’d ever need to be. A light’s still on in the lobby, but the door doesn’t budge when he tugs at it, locked from the inside, so it must just be the cleaning team within. Great. No closer to finding his room and collapsing into a lumpy mattress.

He curses himself continuously in his head as he starts the other way, hoping he’s not tried this path before. It takes him around the science building and spits him out somewhere unfamiliar, with school buildings on all sides, making up a square of stone encasing him, but no dormitories. There is, however, a grassy patch by the path, and a bench, and on the bench, a boy.

He’s thin, with white-blond hair and an elegant face, sharp featured but not unfriendly-looking, and Sungyoon tucks the map in a back pocket and approaches, hoping to look natural and nonchalant as he taps the boy gently on the shoulder and finds dark eyes looking up at him.

“Sorry, I- I’m new, and I think I’m lost.” The boy on the bench blinks for a moment, stunned, but then laughs, a warm, rich sound, and nods in sympathy.

“It happens to the best of us. Where can I direct you?”

Sungyoon gives him the name of his dormitory block and the boy laughs again.

“Well, well, you certainly _are_ lost, aren’t you?”

Sungyoon groans. “Am I anywhere near where I need to be?”

“I’ll be kind, and say yes,” the stranger teases. Thankfully, he only lets Sungyoon panic over how far away he must be for a second before he’s standing, stretching out his limbs. “I’ll walk you. Follow me.”

Sungyoon thanks him profusely, but the boy doesn’t seem to hear him, walking calmly ahead and back past the science building, out into the open again. His hands are in his pockets, and now he’s standing, Sungyoon notices for the first time the strange finery of his clothing, far fancier than anything he’d expected a college student to wear. There’s a dark shirt, and a darker blazer, with dress pants and oxfords that gleam as he walks, shined to perfection. There’s even a flower tucked into his lapel, a small, white snowdrop floating in the sea of black.

The boy offers him a small smile when he sees Sungyoon staring at him. “I’m Joochan,” he says, in a voice just as rich as his laugh. “What’s your name?”

“Sungyoon.”

“Nice to make your acquaintance, Sungyoon,” Joochan nods. Sungyoon grins, unfamiliar with the formality, and Joochan leads them further across campus, to paths Sungyoon hasn’t yet explored. “What do you study?”

“Sports performance.”

“What an interesting coincidence,” Joochan muses. “I have a friend in that department. Perhaps you’ll meet him.” Sungyoon makes an affirmative noise, and Joochan smiles, already sensing his quietness- very _unlike_ Joochan’s other friend. “What sport, in particular?”

“Running, mostly. Track, long distance, that kind of thing.”

“Very impressive,” Joochan says, in a way that sounds sincere. Sungyoon feels himself warming even more to the stranger. “I’m a music major myself.”

Sungyoon opens his mouth to ask whether he plays any instruments but then darts aside with a gasp as a giant moth sweeps past his nose. Joochan chuckles quietly, not missing a step.

Sungyoon hurries after him.

“Thanks for rescuing me,” he says, feeling guilty at how long the walk is to his dorm. Joochan shrugs the compliment away.

“I hardly had anything better to do at this hour.” Another moth flies around him, and this time Joochan follows it with his eyes, watching it dart past him and then circle back, fluttering in the air by his face. It doesn’t seem to bother him.

A street lamp illuminates the darkness, and Sungyoon breathes a sigh of relief as he sees the row of lights lead to a dormitory block, his dormitory block, with the correct name spelled out on a placard by the door. He turns back to Joochan as they both stop walking, a grateful thanks on his tongue, and sees the boy holding out a finger, watching the moth glide down to rest on it. It bats its patterned wings lazily, seemingly content with its new perch, and Sungyoon looks up at Joochan, bewildered. The other boy laughs deep in his chest and drops his hand, and the moth flies away.

“Thanks, again. For showing me the way,” Sungyoon says, recovering from the eerie feeling quickly, giving his new acquaintance his best smile.

Joochan returns it just as warmly. “Have a good night, new boy. Perhaps we’ll see more of each other.”

Happily, Sungyoon waves him off, watching Joochan stroll back into the darkness, in no hurry. Then he turns and fumbles with his keys, and steps at last into his new accommodation.


	2. Hide and Seek

The other people on his floor are sleeping by the time Sungyoon steps into their section of the dorms, passing his eyes over the shut doors before his own. There’s near perfect silence, as he tiptoes through the hall and wrestles his door open, too tired to look over his room fully, collapsing into bed and feeling his feet throb, protesting the wild chase around campus. His limbs are sore and tired and sleep envelopes him almost immediately after his head hits the pillow. He shouldn’t have worried whether he’d be able to sleep before his first day of classes, when his room would be unfamiliar and strange, because fatigue and frustration have taken his pickiness away, and he doesn’t notice the difference in the mattress, the unfamiliar scent of the place, whether the blanket is scratchy. He surprises himself by waking the next morning feeling rested, startled awake by his alarm, when usually he wakes up before the chiming bells of sound coming from his phone, and he has to scramble to turn it off, fearing a rude awakening would not make a good first impression on his flatmates.

Not that he plans on sticking around long enough for first impressions. He can save that for another day. Today’s his first day of classes, and he rushes for the shower room as fast as he can and takes a cold, aggressively quick shower and dresses as quietly as he can, out the door before any opportunity to bump into the other people on his floor presents itself. Only when he’s out on the asphalt, feeling the morning breeze dance across his skin, almost cold, does he feel like he’s able to breath again. 

He walks to class slowly, partly because he doesn’t want to take a wrong turn, and checks his every step on the map he’d brought with him, partly because avoiding meeting his flatmates means he’s far, far too early for his first class. 

His first day. Everyone else has known each other for a few months already. Not for the first time, he wonders what had possessed him to enrol in college late, knowing he’d be starting in the middle of the second semester. A few strings had had to be pulled for the college to even agree to it. Now, he thinks they were right to be reluctant.

The classroom on his schedule is empty and dark when he gets to it, but as he steps inside, the lights flicker on automatically. He steps through the desks, wondering which ones are taken already, realising he’s going to have to risk taking someone’s spot, realising all of the little details he’ll be disrupting with his new start. After hopping from seat to seat, he settles for a desk right at the front, assuming it’ll be only one in the room people aren’t attached to. He _does not_ want to sit in the front row, right by the lecturer, but he’d rather give the impression of being a nerd than getting glares from someone he’d unknowingly reallocated all lesson. Nerd isn’t too far from the truth, anyway. Sungyoon isn’t hoping to be the popular guy.

His priorities are more reasonable, more practical. Pass all of his classes, study up, join as many extracurriculars he can to kill some time and keep himself moving. Track, definitely. Maybe swimming, if there’s a spot on the team. Basketball or something like that, so he can play as a team, so his resume can have some variation. Of course he wants to make friends. Of course he’d rather be having fun than spending all of his time in the library or the gym. But he’s not betting on people being accepting of someone new so late in the year. He’ll content himself in other ways, act as polite as he can, even if he’s naturally so quiet, and hope for the best.

It’s easy to think the time away. He’s still lost in thought when the classroom door opens, and the first student shuffles in, giving him a confused, curious look but trickling to the back row of desks without a word. Sungyoon glances at the clock and realises how much time he’d killed by himself, as the room slowly begins to fill. 

“Hey. Mind if I sit?”

Sungyoon looks up to see a boy standing above his table, pale and with lilac hair long enough to graze his collar, smirking in a way that sets off alarm bells in the back of Sungyoon’s mind. He chastises himself, for the early judgement, and nods, letting the stranger pull up the seat next to him.

“You’re new,” the boy says, a lilt to his voice, that smirk never moving from his lips.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Sungyoon.”

The other boy doesn’t give his name.

“Nice to meet you.” Sungyoon’s not sure he actually means that, but he’d been planning on _polite and_ _nonthreatening_ , and picking a fight with the first guy who’d been friendly enough to talk to him (other than Joochan, who’s disappeared) might not class as polite and nonthreatening, exactly.

The purple haired boy leans a little closer. “Are you nervous for your first day?”

From the way he asks it, the light behind his eyes, Sungyoon could swear he wants a ‘yes’ as an answer, wants him to be uncomfortable.

“Not really.”

Humming, the other boy pulls away, though he’s still closer than he was before. Sungyoon shuffles his chair as far as it can go under the desk, but even then he can only put a few centimetres between them.

“I suppose someone like you should have no problem making friends,” the boy grins.

There’s something rehearsed about it, something so knowing in that unshakeable smirk, that just doesn’t sit right. Sungyoon supposes this is the part where he’s supposed to ask what ‘someone like him’ means, but by the way the boy’s eyeing him, he’s fairly certain he already knows.

“I actually don’t make friends very easily,” he says, hoping the other boy will take the hint.

Of course, that’s being hopelessly optimistic.

“I’ll be your friend.”

Sungyoon tries to decide whether he’s angry or just uncomfortable. Is this worth an argument? Maybe he’s just misunderstanding something.

He glances around to see the classroom more settled than it had been moments ago. People avoid his eye when his gaze passes over them. Not a good sign.

“Actually,” he says, turning back to the boy sitting too close to him, “I hate sitting in the front row. I only sat here so I wouldn’t take someone else’s seat, but now it looks like everyone’s here, so…”

He gathers his notebook and slings his bag over his shoulder, his chair scraping the floorboards as he stands. There’s a near empty section on a desk two rows back- he’ll have to squeeze past people to get to it, but that should dissuade the other boy from following him, and then he'll have some space.

The other boy sees where he’s gesturing too and nods, unbothered. “Alright. See you around, Sungyoon.” 

They have another class together, that day, just before lunch. The same lilac haired boy comes in just as their lecturer starts speaking and slides into one of the empty seats beside Sungyoon. There isn’t enough time to move away from him.

Their lecturer, when she eventually shows up, seems like the slightly scattered kind, always shuffling through piles of papers for the right notes, messy haired with a pen behind her ear, but she smiles at Sungyoon quietly and doesn’t ask him to introduce himself, so Sungyoon figures he can get used to that. If only he can shake his new shadow, it would be a successful first day.

Well, all those races weren’t for nothing, he thinks wryly. He’s out of class before the lecturer can even finish saying goodbye, too fast to be followed.

He buys lunch from a coffee shop outside of campus and eats as he walks, avoiding the cafeterias or college-owned cafés, spending his lunch period instead signing for every team that’ll take him. No luck with swimming, though track is always desperate for new runners, apparently. He changes Basketball to Baseball at the last minute, realising that a contact sport isn’t really something he’d enjoy, and manages to fill up his schedule some more, so there are less long stretches of time between his classes that he doesn’t know what to do with. A few people from his department are there signing up for clubs at the same time, but they all know Joochan, so he’s not certain whether any of them are the friend he'd mentioned when he’d showed Sungyoon to his dorm that night. From the sounds of it, just about everyone seems to be friends with Joochan. But they’re all already in groups, and not that interested in talking to an introvert who isn’t really interested in talking to them, either, so Sungyoon doesn’t get any closer to any of them.

He doesn’t want to bump into the lilac haired boy again, so he decides to wander around the shops further into the city instead of staying on campus, getting something to eat on the way back to the dorm, as the sun begins to set, and then he rushes to his room and closes the door before any of his flatmates can realise he’s back.

Sleep is more difficult this time, without the fatigue dragging him down, but he’d expected that, and is more than used to the struggle by now. He takes the sleep spray he’d bought in the city out of his bag and sprays it everywhere, with abandon- his pillows, his sheets, all replaced and new, black instead of the dingy white bedspread the college had provided, even sprays some on the collar of his t-shirt, into the air. It helps, a little, though he does wonder whether he might have overdone it, not used to living in such a small place, as the lavender and chamomile scent floods through the room, tickling his nose. But at least he manages to fall asleep, eventually.

He wakes up the next day at the same early hour and rushes out of the flat before the others can spot him.

  
  



	3. Lost Boy

Being approached in a dingy bathroom as he’s washing his hands is not exactly how Sungyoon imagined his second day would go, but just as he’s turning the tap on and trying not to look at his reflection in the grimy mirror above the sink, a bright haired boy leans into his line of sight, beaming.

“Hey,” he says curiously, “are you new?”

Sungyoon covers up the fact that he’d jumped a foot into the air in surprise with a shaky smile. “Is it that obvious? From my face?”

“Oh,” the stranger laughs. “I’m friends with Joochan.” As Sungyoon turns the tap off and reaches for a paper towel, he turns to a mirror and starts fussing with strands of his scarlet hair, flicking it out of his eyes. “He kinda knows everybody, so I kinda know everybody by association. But I don’t know you.”

“I see.” It makes sense, given Joochan’s appearance, he supposes. He _had_ seemed like the suave, know-it-all popular kid. “Well, I kind of know Joochan, too.”

“I told you!” the other boy cries, delighted. “He knows _everybody_. I really don’t know how he does it. I’m Jibeom, by the way.”

Laughing at his scattered, friendly chatter, Sungyoon gives his name, too. “I’m Sungyoon.”

“Cool- oh, wait.” Jibeom turns towards him, huge, round eyes flicker across his figure. “Joochan did actually tell me about you. You’re his lost boy, aren’t you?”

Uncertain how to feel about this new label he seems to have acquired, Sungyoon gives a hesitant nod. “I...assume so.”

“Nice,” Jibeom says, thankfully, making it seem like a good thing to be. “Well, if you need anyone to show you around, I’m happy to help.”

Sungyoon hesitates, but not for long. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been dreading this part of his day. “Actually, I don’t really know anyone here. Except Joochan. And now you, I suppose.”

“Don't want to eat by yourself?” Jibeom guesses, already grimacing empathetically.

 _It’s more that there are certain people I really,_ really, _don't want to eat with._ His stalker had been practically attached to him at the hip in another dull introductory lecture that morning.

But telling this new boy that he probably has a stalker would likely not be the best thing to say, so he pretends that it’s just shyness, and nods. “I know it’s silly-”

“No, no, not at all! I was just going to get some food myself, you could join me?”

He lets out a sigh of relief. “Sure. Thanks, that, um, that sounds great.”

Jibeom beams at him, almost unbelievably bright. “Then follow me, lost boy!”

He throws himself against the bathroom door and strides forward, not checking whether Sungyoon is following him, chattering on happily by himself about every building they pass, until they reach somewhere Sungyoon is told is a music building. Joochan must have classes here, he thinks. Maybe they really will see more of each other.

“I have a lot of friends in the music department,” Jibeom is telling him. “So I like to eat here. The food’s _way_ better than in my building.”

“What building is that?”

“Biology,” Jibeom replies, grimacing, as if he thinks there’s something lame about it. “I’m a molecular biology major.” Though he’d never been much of an academia lover, Sungyoon nods politely and tells Jibeom it sounds interesting, anyway, which seems to please him.

“This is our usual table,” he says, as they step into a cafeteria of white tile, slapping a palm against a white wood table with long benches. Their friendship group must be quite extensive. Sungyoon reminds himself it’s a strange time to be eating lunch, that most people are still in classes at this time, but he still feels uneasy when Jibeom leaves him with the promise of bringing back the best food they serve.

No one steps up to the table, though, so he never has to use the speech he’d been rehearsing in his head, lest one of Jibeom’s friends find him at their table alone. Jibeom slides a tray over to him and sits opposite, a coffee and a cake for himself, a pizza slice, side salad, and row of tiny sandwiches for Sungyoon.

“I thought I’d get a variety, seen as I don’t know what you like to eat,” Jibeom explains, as Sungyoon looks a little overwhelmed at the feast he’d been given.

“Thank you,” Sungyoon laughs. He plucks a sandwich from his tray and nibbles on it as Jibeom attacks his slice of cake with rigour. “Sweet tooth?” he asks, and the other boy giggles.

“I guess you could say that.”

Sungyoon smiles as they eat. Jibeom is the talkative type, but he seems to understand that Sungyoon isn’t, and he lets silences fall comfortably over them a few times, until he’s pushing an empty plate away.

“So,” he says, “how are you finding your first week?”

“It’s good,” Sungyoon says, instinctively. Jibeom tips his head, curious, and he really thinks about it. “Well...I like my classes. My teachers seem nice.”

“But…?” Jibeom asks, picking up the hesitant tone of Sungyoon’s voice.

Sungyoon sighs. “I don’t know. It’s probably nothing.”

“I give great advice, you know,” Jibeom says teasingly, and Sungyoon finds himself laughing, put at ease.

“Alright. I don’t know, it’s just, one of the boys in my class-”

“Uh oh,” Jibeom says.

“Yeah. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it, but he’s a little...pushy. I keep trying to avoid him, but he doesn’t seem to be getting the hint.” 

Jibeom hums thoughtfully, a small frown turning his lips. “That _is_ a problem.” He taps his lips with his spoon for a few beats of silence, then says, “Maybe you should get a boyfriend. Or, you know, girlfriend.”

Sungyoon scoffs. “ _That’s_ your great advice?”

“There’s no one you have your eye on?”

“I don’t even know anyone here, Jibeom.”

The other boy pouts, clearly disappointed. “Right. Well, it doesn’t need to be someone you're dating _for real_.”

Sungyoon stares at him. “I think you’ve lost me.”

Leaning closer over the table, Jibeom speaks through a sly smile, as if he knows just how ridiculous the story he’s telling must seem, but Sungyoon doesn’t doubt that it’s true for one second. 

“I had this cousin who always made fun of me for being single, right? And when she got married my friend Jangjun said it would be fun to pretend we were dating for the night, so she wouldn’t be all smug or something, and he was great at it! My whole family loved him, he’s a real charmer when he wants to be. My grandma still asks after him every thanksgiving. I swear, I thought my cousin was going to call off the wedding and try to elope with him.”

Sungyoon laughs before he can help himself. “That’s crazy.”

“So?” Jibeom demands. “It worked! I don’t get teased anymore. I’m sure if you got someone to help you out like that, lover boy would leave you alone soon enough.”

Starting to wonder whether the first friend he’s made here is certifiably insane, if Jibeom can even be considered his ‘friend’ yet, Sungyoon shakes his head. “Who am I going to get to do that for me?”

Jibeom falls back into his chair with a thoughtful sigh. “Well, I’d volunteer, but I don’t think my boyfriend would be very happy about it.”

“Please,” Sungyoon begs, feeling suddenly exhausted, “don’t make me a homewrecker my first week on campus.”

Jibeom laughs wholeheartedly, a full bodied sound as he throws his head back, loud enough to turn a few curious heads their way. “I doubt anyone would feel very threatened by me, anyway.” Though Sungyoon would like to disagree, he can’t, really. Jibeom’s too bright and warm looking to pull something like this off. “But Jangjun- the friend I mentioned who helped me? He’s always down for a laugh. I’m sure he’d help you out.”

“I can’t ask someone I don’t know to pretend to be my boyfriend, Jibeom.” Not something he’d ever think he’d need to explain, but Jibeom just shrugs, as if he doesn’t see why it’d be a problem.

“Then don’t, let me ask him! He’s going to say yes, anyway. He’s sociable.”

 _And probably crazy, if he’s friends with you._ How exactly do Jibeom and Joochan know each other? Sungyoon hadn’t expected the elegant, almost out-of-time boy who'd escorted him to his dorm to have friends like this.

“I don’t know…”

“Just leave it to me,” Jibeom says, patting the back of Sungyoon's hand where it sits on the tabletop, not seeming to pick up on his reluctance. Before Sungyoon can argue anymore, there’s a familiar voice calling to him across the room, and they both turn to see Joochan in the doorway.

“Beom!” 

Jibeom waves at him cheerily, and Joochan beckons him with a tip of his head, coppery hair quiffed away from his face, another dark suit covering him head to toe, an orange flower that matches his hair tucked into the breast pocket. His dark eyes flicker past Jibeom and find Sungyoon. He gives a polite incline of his head, and though he doesn’t say anything, still clearly wanting Jibeom to come to him, he smiles kindly enough that Sungyoon knows he's been recognised.

“I should get going,” Jibeom says, guiltily, though Sungyoon is already nodding. “Catch you later?”

Sungyoon nods, glad to see Jibeom looking down at him intently, waiting for a response, as if he really does want to meet again.

“I’ll ask Jangjun if he has time to help,” he adds, and Sungyoon’s joy is blunted only slightly with worry. “Oh- by the way, that’s him right there.”

Jibeom points through the doorway, and then steps away, smiling over his shoulder, before skipping up to Joochan and leaving the cafeteria. As Joochan turns from the doorway, Sungyoon sees the other boy standing behind him for the first time, dark haired and staring down at his phone, not paying attention. When Jibeom reaches them and they start to walk away, Sungyoon just catches sight of his face before they’re around the corner and out of sight. He’s bright featured, like Jibeom, but not as warm looking, a wide mouth and expressive, dark eyes under a crop of raven hair, a long black coat to match swaying around him as he walks. He’s sharp, smirking, and Sungyoon doesn’t realise how closely he’s watching him until he’s out of sight, with the others, and he’s staring at a blank wall through the cafeteria doorway, suddenly disappointed by the empty space.

He pushes his tray away and leaves through the other door.


	4. Extracurricular

On the third day, the shower room is locked when he turns the door handle. The sound of running water is just audible through the scratched wood.

_Crap._

His stomach grumbles unhappily in the silence of the corridor. He really should stop skipping breakfast if he wants to excel in his classes. 

_It’s going to have to happen eventually. Just bite the bullet and get it over with. They might not even be awake yet. Who knows, the kitchen could be empty._

When he stumbles bleary-eyed into the room in search of breakfast, however, he finds two of the boys already awake, sitting at the table.

One, a tall, brown haired boy, looks up from a bowl of cereal as the door swings shut behind Sungyoon, and gives him a small, sleepy smile.

“Good morning,” Sungyoon says, awkwardly, uncertain as to how college flatmates usually greet each other.

“Hi,” the taller boy says. “You must be our new flatmate.” Sungyoon nods, grateful for someone talkative, and not awkward silences, and gives his name for the second time in as many days. That might not be strange for other people, but Sungyoon isn’t used to so many introductions.

“We didn’t see much of you yesterday.”

“I was busy with enrolment,” Sunyoon says, which is a lie, because he’d done all of that online, so he could avoid human interaction as much as possible. But the other boys don’t have to know that.

“I’m Daeyeol,” the tall boy smiles. “And this-” he points to the person across from him with his spoon, “is Seungmin. But he’s quiet in the morning.”

The small, blond boy doesn’t say anything, as if to prove this point, but at least is nice enough to meet Sungyoon’s eye when he greets him, and gives a nod in return.

“There’s Donghyun too, but he’s not really an early riser. Maybe you’ll meet him tonight.”

“Right,” Sungyoon says. “It’s nice to meet you both.” This gets him a smile that looks somehow proud, as if he were Daeyeol’s child instead of his flatmate. He suspects the boy is older than him. He also suspects he’ll be welcoming, so he finds he doesn’t really mind the smile.

Daeyeol sees him filling a glass with tap water and tells him he’s welcome to raid the kitchen, until he has a chance to buy his own food. Sungyoon hesitates, but Seungmin nods, as if agreeing, so he thanks them both and opens the fridge, pleased to find a smoothie inside, one of the green health drinks he’d already put on his shopping list.

“There’s a fruit bowl, too,” Daeyoel says, approvingly, and points to the countertop behind Seungmin, where Sungyoon had failed to notice a glass bowl holding bananas, apples and kiwis. He silently thanks whoever's listening for giving him strange roommates- he’d been dreading the idea of re-heated pizzas and dirty dishes. Not only is the kitchen in this dorm spotless, no dirty dishes in sight, they seem far healthier than the average dorm.

“Are you sports majors too?” Sungyoon asks, biting into an apple.

“No,” Daeyeol laughs. “I just try to keep us healthy, when I can.”

Sungyoon nods approvingly. 

Seungmin turns to look up at him. “You’re an athlete?”

Resting against the counter, now he’s more comfortable, Sungyoon nods. “Majoring in sports performance.”

“Interesting,” Daeyeol says. “I know a guy who runs track. Not a sports major, just extracurricular stuff, you know, but he’s a cool guy. A bit of a class clown.”

“ _I_ run track,” Sungyoon says.

“Ah. Then you’ll probably meet him.”

“What’s his name?” Sungyoon asks, half expecting it to be Joochan, because everyone really does seem to know him.

“Jangjun,” Daeyeol says.

Sungyoon nearly spits a mouthful of smoothie at his new flatmate.

 _Class clown?_ That hadn’t sounded like the person Jibeom had mentioned, nor the person Sungyoon had glimpsed only barely yesterday. How can someone be a class clown _and_ a charmer? Sungyoon hadn’t thought those two things could ever go together.

“He’s one of their best runners, I hear.”

The blond boy scoffs. “Of course he is,” he mutters, fine features drawn into a dark scowl, the quiet mumble only audible because he’d been raising his glass to his lips, and it had amplified the sound.

Daeyeol gives him a warning look. Sugyoon can’t help his curiosity.

“Not a friend of yours?”

“Jangjun?” Seumgin laughs. “I don’t make friends with-”

“Seungmin doesn’t have many friends,” Daeyeol cuts in, and both of them turn to him, Sungyoon surprised by the firmness of his voice, Seungmin almost glaring. Daeyeol gives him a tight smile and turns back to Sungyoon as if nothing had happened. “I can vouch for Jangjun. He’s a good guy.”

“You’re not the only person singing his praises,” Sungyoon says, mainly to himself, wondering at the coincidence, but Daeyeol and Seungmin hear and look at him more closely.

“What do you mean?” Seungmin asks suspiciously.

“I met this red haired guy who mentioned him yesterday,” Sungyoon explains. “Said they were friends.”

The short silence that follows this makes him nervous, until he sees Daeyeol’s expression light up. “You wouldn’t be talking about Jibeom, would you?”

The door swings open, but Sungyoon’s too busy trying to figure out Dayeol’s expression to turn toward it. “You know Jibeom?”

“You could say that,” a new voice laughs, and Sungyoon sees the figure stepping up to the table as the door closes behind him, a friendly-featured, light haired boy, a towel still around his shoulders. 

A pink flush has settled over Daeyeol’s high cheekbones- he coughs awkwardly into his hand. “We’re, um, we’re dating.”

Sungyoon gapes at him. “ _You’re_ the boyfriend he mentioned?”

“He mentioned me?”

Seungmin makes a gagging sound and the new boy- Donghyun, Sungyoon remembers- reaches across the table to shove him reprimandingly.

“Uh, yeah," Sungyoon says. "We didn’t talk for long, he just showed me to the cafeteria.”

He has no idea how he would ever begin to explain the conversation they’d had, though he guesses if they’re dating, Jibeom will tell Daeyeol eventually, especially if this Jangjun guy is crazy enough to agree to the plan.

“Oh. You know if you ever need a hand, we’re more than willing to help.” It’s Donghyun’s voice, though he’d narrowly beat Daeyeol to the punch- the taller boy snaps his mouth shut, but makes sure Sungyoon sees him nodding, to show the offer extends to the three of them.

“Thanks. That’d be nice.”

“You have a class this morning?” Seungmin asks, surprising him by coming out of his shell, expression neutral again after the conversation has turned from Jangjun.

“Um. No, I just usually wake up early.”

Donghyun groans. “Not another one.”

“What _are_ you doing awake already?” Daeyeol asks, eyeing the towel around Donghyun’s shoulders.

“Someone’s alarm woke me.”

“Shit,” Sungyoon says, too loud in the tiny kitchen. He smiles nervously when they all look at him, surprised. “Sorry, that must have been mine.”

Donghyun shrugs and takes a seat beside Seungmin. “No biggy.”

“Really, getting out of bed every once in a while would do him some good,” Seungmin says, and then rolls his eyes when Donghyun shoves his shoulder with his own in retaliation, not strong enough to do any damage.

“Wait a day or two, Sungyoon,” Donghyun says, noticing his bemused expression, “and he’ll find something to moan at you about.”

“A few hours, more likely,” Daeyeol says into his coffee. Donghyun giggles, and the blond boy glares at them both.

“Like you’re any better, neat freak.”

It’s unclear who he’s speaking to, until Donghyun puts both hands over his stomach as if he’d been punched in the gut.

“If either of them give you trouble,” someone says quietly, and Sungyoon jolts as he finds Daeyeol standing next to him, suddenly standing, leaning close so the others don’t hear his murmur, “just tell me, yeah? They’re not the easiest people to live with, but we’re not averse to compromise, here.”

Sungyoon laughs, watching Seungmin and Donghyun bicker as if to demonstrate all the ways they might be difficult to live with. “Actually, I don’t think we’ll have a problem. I was dreading all of the dirty dishes and beer cans I thought would be in a student flat, so, really, this is great.” 

Daeyeol takes a sip from his mug, smiling. “That’s great to hear, Sungyoon.”

This close, he can see the contents of the ceramic, the deep red of whatever Daeyeol’s drinking staining the sides of the mug it swirls within.

“What are you drinking?”

“Hm?” Daeyeol glances at his mug and straightens. “Oh, it’s, a health drink, it’s terrible. Beetroot or something.” He sloshes what’s left of it into the sink and washes it away. “Really, it’s vile.”

“Beetroot’s great for blood pressure,” Sungyoon says, trying to put him at ease. He’s not sure if he’s just imagining the secretive, closed air Daeyeol has suddenly thrown up, if he’s imagining his awkwardness because of all of the situations like this where _he_ has been the odd ball, trying to hide the strange parts of himself, feeling far too old and far too boring. 

“So I’ve heard.”

Donghyun’s looking over his shoulder at the two of them. When he sees Sungyoon spot him, he smiles, and teasingly asks, “What are you, an apothecary?”

“Sports major,” Sungyoon says, realising the boy had been absent for that part of the conversation. 

The groan this gets is alarmingly sincere. “Another health freak?” Donghyun cries. “Two health freaks _and_ a snob? Will I ever get to eat pizza ever again?”

Daeyeol wrinkles his nose as if catching a bad smell. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”

This is surprising, for someone so mellow and welcoming, but Donghyun doesn’t look particularly annoyed, so Sungyoon shrugs, putting it down to the complicated dynamics of a friendship group he doesn’t yet completely understand. Maybe he could have a cheat day, and take Donghyun out for pizza. He hadn’t thought he’d want to be close to his flatmates, but here he is, making plans anyway.

He hums in the shower, for the first time in a while.

There’s a door open as he steps into the corridor again, hair plastered to his forehead, dripping water, and Daeyeol’s voice floats out from what must be his bedroom.

“I know, they told me he- _of course_ , Ji, you think they’d just spring this on us? I don’t know, I thought it would be a nice experience-”

Sungyoon steps up to the doorway and sees Daeyeol reclining in a desk chair, spinning languidly as he talks into his phone. His eyes flicker up to see Sungyoon in his doorway and his voice cuts off, suddenly.

Sungyoon laughs. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No, no! You didn’t, it’s-” as he pauses, a loud voice is audible through the phone, excitedly yelling enough that Sungyoon can make out his name amongst the noise.

Daeyeol winces apologetically. “It’s Jibeom.”

“Tell him I said hello.”

Smiling wryly, Daeyol does, and then waits, tugging at a loose string of his sleeve, as the excited voice on the other line chirps happily away.

“He’s jealous that you’re my roommate,” he whispers, rolling his eyes, and it’s conspiratorial and a little smug and Sungyoon can’t help feeling pleased, feeling comfortable, as he leans against the older boy’s doorframe. He wonders if Daeyeol knows he’s smiling, as he listens to the boy on the other end of the call, or whether it’s a subconscious thing.

“Yes, Ji, I’ll tell him. Of course, cross my heart and everything. Alright. Bye.”

With an exasperated sigh, Daeyeol ends the call, and then with a quiet laugh spins his chair around to face Sungyoon.

“He wanted me to tell you to go to the cafeteria. The one he took you to last time, wherever that is.”

“Oh. I know it. Did he say why?”

“Something about meeting Jangjun,” Daeyeol shrugs. “Is this about the track team?”

“Um, yeah, something like that. Did he say when?” 

“I think he meant, like, right now.”

A water droplet runs from a lock of hair plastered to Sungyoon’s forehead to tickle his neck. He glances down at the sweatpants and tank top he’d thrown on after his shower.

“Right now,” he repeats.

Daeyeol mistakes the odd quality to his voice and tuts sympathetically. “I know, he can’t just expect you to know your way there already.” He pouts thoughtfully, and then tips his head to the side. “I’m sure Seungmin would take you. He has a class in the music department anyway, soon.”

Sungyoon thanks him and scurries away to his own room before Daeyeol can get any ideas on being too nice and going to ask Seungmin himself, and not giving Sungyoon time to change before they go. His bedroom door slams against the wall in his haste, and as he grabs it and carefully shuts it more quietly, he sends a silent apology to Donghyun, who must live in the next room, if Sungyoon’s alarm that morning had woken him.

He needs to do laundry. It’s not even been a week yet, and he’s already running out of things to wear? How did this happen?

After some very stressed rifling through his tiny box of a closet, Sungyoon manages eventually to pull out a pair of ripped white jeans and a striped button up, which is green, which feels strange, because he never wears this much color, but he’s spent too much time fussing over his hair already, trying to make it sit right now it’s dry, and Jibeom might be starting to wonder where he is.

Seungmin is more than happy to show him the way, until they’re walking up to the music department, and he sees who’s lounging on a bench just outside the building.

“Great,” he mutters, and then Jibeom has spotted them, and stands with a violently joyful wave that startles the two other boys at his table. One of them is Joochan, the boy who’d shown Sungyoon the way to his dormitory on his first night, looking just as elegant and out of place in the daylight, in an honest-to-God full pinstripe suit, the trademark flower in his pocket this time a stylish blue shade, and he smiles at Sungyoon politely as they step up to the table, clearly remembering him.

The other boy is Jangjun.


	5. Behind Dark Frames

  
  


“Look what the dog dragged in,” Seungmin says, an edge to his lilting voice, with a smile that’s tight and unfriendly. 

Jibeom rolls his eyes, closest to them, and Joochan clicks his tongue, but the boy who’s being addressed makes no reaction but to return Seungmin’s smile, red lips stretching wide into an amused grin.

“Always a pleasure, Minie.”

Seungmin sighs. “I was just showing Sungyoon the way here, since Jibeom couldn’t be bothered coming to fetch him himself. He’s here, so, excuse me.”

With only an encouraging pat to Sungyoon’s shoulders, he’s making his exit, through the double doors of the music building, leaving Sungyoon stranded alone next to the bench.

“Sit,” Joochan tells him, waving a hand to the empty bench beside him. Jibeom and Jangjun are opposite, watching him, so Sungyoon has no choice but to nod and take a seat. “I’m glad we met again.”

It makes Sungyoon nervous, somehow, that he says it so bluntly, though Joochan’s voice had been nothing but polite and unassuming. Perhaps it’s because once it’s been said, and now he’s sitting down, Sungyoon is so aware of the other two boys staring at him. Joochan is kind enough to not study him directly, but the other two seem to have no problem openly showing their interest. Sungyoon knows Jibeom is just sociable, that he wants to be close, but he isn’t so sure about Jangjun.

He looks much the same as he had when Sungyoon had glanced him in the cafeteria that day, the same dark suede coat over a black button up, the only color the gold details lining his lapels and across his shoulders, the same shade as the earring dangling from one of his ears. The only difference is now he's also wearing huge dark sunglasses that cover his eyes so Sungyoon doesn’t know where he’s looking. 

He doesn’t look someone Sungyoon would ever think to dub _class clown._ _Charmer_ , maybe, but not really in a good way. Jibeom had made it seem like a compliment, like Sungyoon should expect someone smiling and generous and funny, not someone clad head-to-toe in black who wears sunglasses like those on such an overcast day. 

“Oh, right,” Jibeom says, sitting straighter as an idea occurs to him. “This is Jangjun.”

“I’m Sungyoon.”

Jangjun’s lips quirk into a smile. “So I’ve heard.” 

Sungyoon’s eyes flicker accusingly to Jibeom, who winces.

“I may have mentioned you,” the red haired boy confesses. “But all good things!”

“He was also telling us about his completely ridiculous solution to your admirer problem,” Joochan adds, with an indulgent, soft smile.

“I told you it was ridiculous!” Sungyoon says, pointing at Joochan, thankful to have someone with sense on his side. “It’s crazy, and completely unnecessary.”

“Who’s the boy?” Jangjun asks.

It’s the first thing he’s said with any feeling, and Sungyoon, bewildered, looks across the bench to see his own reflection staring back at him from tinted glass frames, nothing to see beyond those glasses, nothing in Jangjun’s expression that hints to what he’s feeling.

“What?”

“The boy who won’t leave you alone,” he clarifies. “Do you know his name?”

Actually, now Sungyoon thinks about it...“He didn’t give it. He has really long hair, kind of purple-”

Jibeom groans loudly at the sky. Jangjun huffs as if this was the answer he’d been expecting.

“You know about him?”

“Unfortunately,” Joochan says, stunning Sungyoon, the first unpleasantry he’s spoken yet, the first hint that there are people on campus that even he hasn’t befriended.

“He’s persistent, that’s for sure,” Jangjun says, and though Sungyoon can’t see beyond his glasses, he’d bet money that the dark haired boy is rolling his eyes. Jangjun has never actually met the Fae in person, but he’s infamous, on campus, for stories just like this, and even those who’ve never met him know his type.

“I told you it was bad,” Jibeom mutters.

Sungyoon leans away from the feeling of three pairs of eyes glued to his face. “I’m sure it isn’t-”

“I’ll do it,” Jangjun says.

“You-what? Really?” Sungyoon asks, a little bashfully, thinking he’s misunderstood something, and Jibeom scrunches up his nose, finding his new shyness endearing, though the other boy hardly reacts.

He shrugs. “It’s just fake, right? Is it that big of a deal?”

Sungyoon wants to say yes, it sounds crazy to him, and too much effort to go to for one troublesome boy in a few of his classes, but Jangjun seems so unbothered by the idea that he feels sort of...lame, for making a fuss.

“You’re really considering pretending to date me? Just like that?”

“Sure.” Jangjun smiles in a way that’s more a sharp baring of teeth than a grin. “I always have time to help a damsel in distress.”

Now more than ever, Sungyoon isn’t sure agreeing to this is a good idea. Now more than ever, the idea is so tempting that he finds he can’t say no.

“I guess your crazy idea is panning out, Jibeom,” he says, as an excuse to look away from Jangjun’s knowing smirk, and the red headed boy claps his hands with a delighted giggle, and Joochan sighs, as if he knew this would happen eventually.

“Are you sure you want to do this Sungyoon? You don't need to humour him, you know.”

Sungyoon throws another questioning look at Jangjun. The dark haired boy just shrugs again, as if to say _it’s up to you._

“Sure. Great. Anything to get him to take a hint, I guess.” Jibeom looks far more excited than he should be, and Jangjun is still unreadable, and Joochan turns to study him closely, a thoughtful expression on his face as his eyes travel across Sungyoon’s face. Sungyoon stands abruptly. “I actually have a class soon,” he lies, “so I should probably get going.”

With the three of them looking up at him, he hovers, unsure of the plan. Jibeom waves him away with a smile.

“We’ll know where to find you.”

“Right. Then, I’ll see you around.”

Jibeom gives him a cheery wave and Joochan says goodbye. He can feel eyes on him all the way across the path, and then he’s around the corner, walking slower, his class still too far in the future to warrant such a fast pace. 

It takes less than a second of his being out of sight before chaos erupts on the little bench in front of the music department.

Jangjun turns back to their table to see Jibeom smiling innocently at him, and immediately throws himself over the table.

“I’m going to throttle you!”

Jibeom yelps and jumps away from the hands that are grabbing for him. “But you said you’d help! You agreed!!”

“You’re causing a scene,” Joochan sighs, the embodiment of disappointment, as Jibeom takes sanctuary on his side of the bench.

“Where the hell did you _find him?_ ” Jangjun cries, giving up on killing Jibeom in favour of falling dramatically back into his seat with his head in his hands. “Who _is_ he?”

Jibeom shrugs, but the way his lips are turned up at the edges gives his smugness away. “Just someone I met in the bathrooms one day. He seemed nice.”

Janjgun moans. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Jibeom says mildly. “It’s not as if this is your first time fake dating a cute guy.”

“ _Cute_ doesn’t cover it,” Jangjun groans, ignoring the subtle self-compliment behind Jibeom’s words. “Oh, this is how I go. I won’t survive this. This is it for me, I’m done for, I’m finished.”

“Thank the heavens for some peace and quiet,” Joochan mutters. Jangjun glares at him, but doesn’t say anything.

“Surely this is a good thing,” Jibeom complains. “I met a guy that's entirely your type and somehow created a scenario for you to be his knight in shining armour, and _this_ is the thanks I get?”

"I don't have a type," Jangjun grumbles.

"Of course you do," Jibeom says, pointing at him with an accusatory index finger. "Looks cute, but _also_ looks like they could kick your ass into next week if they wanted to."

Joochan chuckles under his breath, in a way that's clearly startled agreement. 

“Did you really not notice,” Jangjun asks, “or are you pretending to be dense so I don’t bludgeon you?”

Though he knows exactly what Jangjun’s referring to- really, it isn’t something you can miss- Jibeom assumes an innocently ignorant look he thinks might prevent Jangjun leaping for his throat again. “What?”

“He’s _human,_ you toad!”

Jibeom’s mouth drops open. “Wha- _toad?_ ”

“That _was_ a little harsh,” Joochan nods.

Jangjun grumbles low in his throat, close to a growl, and Jibeom throws up his hands. “Don’t tell him, then! He doesn’t need to know! Daeyeol’s already hiding the fact that no one in his dorm is human pretty well anyway.”

“You think he won’t sense something’s up?” Joochan asks, clearly sceptical.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, Jibeom, really I don’t, maybe- _this?”_ Jangjun pulls off his sunglasses and lurches forward, the irises of his eyes a violent, glowing crimson, and Jibeom jolts, a hand flying to his chest.

“You scared me,” he pants.

“Exactly!” Jangjun cries. “What do you think I’d do to him? The _full moon is this week._ How am I supposed to hide this?”

“Just wear your glasses. He was _clearly_ into the whole ‘bad boy’ vibe you had going on.”

Joochan’s brows shoot up to his hairline. “He was?”

“So I always wear sunglasses,” Jangjun bites, ignoring the last comment. “ _Great idea,_ Beom. Even inside? At night, too?”

Jibeom shrugs. “Just say you have a really bad hangover or a sty or something.”

Jangjun throws his sunglasses to the table and puts his head in his hands. “I really hate that we’re friends sometimes.” 

“Please,” Jibeom laughs. “As if you weren’t _dying_ to be of assistance once you saw him.”

“This won’t work out how you want it to, Jibeom.”

“Why not? You were very charming at my cousin’s wedding, just do what you did then! A few charming smiles, laugh at all of his jokes, be nice to his friends and relations, and then you can sweep him off his feet and go riding off into the sunset together.”

Joochan chuckles. “If this plan includes meeting his relatives, we’ve _really_ gone too far.”

“We’ve gone too far already,” Jangjun grumbles. The tumultuous moods the full moon always puts him under are definitely at work- he himself knows he would be down for any plan this crazy and entertaining in other circumstances, but he can’t shake the gloominess hovering over his head like a little black cloud. “You should have just told him to go to the faculty-”

“You _know_ that won’t help,” Jibeom argues. “Once Fae find their fixations they don’t stop for anything. No offence,” he adds, sparing a glance at Joochan, who shrugs.

“You’re quite right, unfortunately.”

“And you think _I_ can help?” Jangjun scoffs. “How?”

Jibeom frowns at him. “Don’t you remember? Jeonghan had that run in with an alpha last spring, it got pretty nasty. He hates wolves now, won’t go near them. If you’re around Sungyoon so often, he’ll back off.”

“Chan,” Jangjun pleads, “come on, please, tell him this won’t work.”

“I can’t,” Joochan says simply. “It makes perfect sense to me.”

Jangjun groans and slides his glasses back onto his nose. “I thought you were the wise, reasonable one in our little group of psychos.”

“That’s putting too much faith in me,” Joochan laughs, lazily stroking the wing of a moth that’d landed on the bench before him with one finger. “But really, Jeonghan can’t stand wolves. Even a Lycan like you will stand a better chance of chasing him away than whatever the poor faculty could do. I think Jibeom’s plan is quite clever.”

Jibeom beams at him. “I don’t think you’ve ever said that before.”

“And I doubt I’ll ever say it again,” Joochan says, impartially, and lets the moth fly away. “But this time, you did the best you could in a tricky situation. It was good of you to offer help.”

“Yeah, _my_ help.” Jangjun grumbles. “You two just get to sit back and watch now, it’s _me_ who’s stuck with all the hard parts.”

“We can assist,” Joochan shrugs. “Just pretend to be close, hope it works, and try not to scare the boy away. We’ll all try to make sure the whole _human_ facade remains intact while you do.”

“And Sungyoon needs friends,” Jibeom adds, excitedly. “The more time he’s with all of us, the less time you’ll be alone having to do all the lying and convincing by yourself.”

“Great,” Janjgun says drily. “This is going to go well, I can see it now. No mishaps whatsoever. Just fending off a territorial Fae who clearly has no boundaries, pretending to be human for the considerable future, all the while trying not to make a fool of myself in front of a cute guy and surviving the full moon next week. What could possibly go wrong?”


	6. Smite Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a chapter to celebrate golcha's comeback!!!! <3

“Remind me why I’m missing rehearsal to wait outside some random stranger’s classroom, again?”

Jangjun sighs at Bomin’s sullen tone and shoves his hands in his pockets. “Because, as the only acting major amongst us, I figured I could at least rely on you to lie convincingly.”

"You ever heard of 'thou shalt not lie'?"

"Don't preach to me, Bible boy," Jangjun says, rolling his eyes. "That holier-than-thou attitude only works on people who don't know you."

 _He_ happens to know just how well Bomin can lie when he feels so inclined, having witnessed too many times his excuses to Jibeom about why he'd broken curfew, or his flawlessly pulling fictions out of the air whenever his lecturers asked for his homework, or Youngtaek had asked him whether he'd saw his laptop, or- well, the list is pretty extensive. Jangjun would be here all day, gazing off into space, if he tried to list in his mind all of the things he'd saw Bomin do that he'd never expected of an Angel. He'd been imagining piety and maybe even fluffy white wings and halo when he'd met his flatmate. Bomin had laughed and shoved a Bible in his face the first time he'd mentioned this with a derisive _read it yourself if you're so interested,_ and Jangjun had, in one painful sitting. The next day he'd watched Bomin joyfully throw light around the room for Jaehyun to chase, laughing when he'd run head-first into walls trying to catch it, and understood the warrior-like, intimidating figures in the Bible, with none of the childlike innocence he'd thought they had, painted a far more realistic picture of his new friend than the cartoonish cupid he'd been imagining him to be. Though at his core he's all warmth and affection, the younger boy has a quick temper, and a quicker tongue, and more than once Jangjun had been on the bad end of one of Bomin's harsh tricks and pranks. 

Even now, there's something wicked in the way Bomin raises a brow, the almost amused incredulity of his smile. “And I’m supposed to be human?”

“All of us are, apparently.”

They’d stayed up late last night, when Jibeom had called a meeting, gathered on the sofas as he filled the others in on the details of his ridiculous, _ridiculous_ plan. 

“Why can’t we just _tell_ him?” Bomin argues, the same thing he’d asked Jibeom then.

Jangjun throws his head back in frustration. “I don’t know, Min, I didn’t make the damn plan! Daeyeol was told his new roommate doesn’t know anything about the supernatural, and telling the boy that suddenly that he’s surrounded by vampires and werewolves and whatever the Hel-fuck else could very easily land him in the college infirmary, and if that happens it’s been made _very_ clear who Daeyeol’s going to murder first-”

“Alright, alright!” Bomin exclaims, holding his hands up in the air in surrender. “There’s no need to be so moody. Just because you’re on your period-”

Jangjun glares at him sharply behind his dark glasses. “Smite me, angel.”

Bomin releases a great, long-suffering sigh. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Just try to be friendly,” Jangjun mutters. “He already has a Fae following him around like he’s a cute house cat. He doesn’t need any more complications.”

A crease appears between Bomin’s dark brows. “Fae?”

“Jeonghan.”

A flicker of irritation passes over the angel’s fair face. “I guess that explains how protective you’ve all become of him.”

“I’m not being protective,” Jangjun opposes, too quickly to be believable. “For some reason Jibeom brought up the Wedding Routine to a complete stranger and volunteered me to do it, so-”

“Don’t even try it," Bomin laughs. "You could have refused if you’d really wanted to.”

Jangjun groans and rubs at his eyes, revealing a glimpse of the red of his irises before he’s straightening his glasses, covering them again. “I’m not in the mood for you to call my bluff right now, alright? I’m achy and tired and feeling very _unhuman_ , so if you could just do as I ask and not make this any harder than it has to be, it’d be appreciated.”

Bomin sighs as if he’s been asked to do something very difficult, but doesn’t argue. He can see the effects of the full moon on Jangjun so obviously now that he knows how difficult it must be for the older boy to stand and wait so calmly for the end of Sungyoon’s class. Usually he’d be in the dorm, groaning under a pile of blankets as Youngtaek fusses over him, complaining about his aches and pains and the flushes of hot and cold that always hit him before the full moon, caught in violent mood swings. He looks rough, to Bomin’s eye, his hair pointing in every direction, a lighter, almost sandy shade of brown disrupting the usual raven tone in some places, where the colour of his wolf form's coat has seeped through. And he’s paler, still shivering despite the heavy jacket pulled around him. The human boy doesn’t know enough about how Jangjun usually behaves to notice these differences, Bomin supposes.

Just as Jangjun starts to bounce impatiently on the balls of his feet, a few students trail out of the sports building, and then a few more. Bomin glances at his watch.

“This must be his class.”

“There,” Jangjun says. 

Bomin follows the direction of his head tilt to the side door, where a boy about Jangjun’s height is stepping outside, reading over what must be a worksheet from his class, head down, dark silver hair catching the light as he walks, not watching where he’s going. A more familiar boy steps out just after him, long hair a light purple shade that has both boys waiting a few paces away suddenly tensed and watchful.

“Yoon,” Jangjun calls, just loud enough to catch the boy’s attention.

The experience of meeting people outside of his classroom, people that had clearly been waiting there for his period to end, is a completely foreign one to Sungyoon. As he lowers his assignment, he blinks a few times at the two dark haired boys waiting for him on the sidewalk, as if expecting the image of them to float away, a mirage or a fantasy that will vanish the moment he regains his concentration. But they remain where they are, and as he steps closer he can feel the presence at his back hesitate. 

“Hi,” Jangjun says, not looking at him. Though his glasses remain resolutely covering his eyes, from the angle of his head it’s clear he’s looking behind Sungyoon, at the boy who’d followed him from class. He doesn’t smile.

Sungyoon’s eyes flicker to the unfamiliar boy beside him and ignores the feeling of eyes on his back.

“Hello.”

“Hell _o_ ,” the other boy echoes, voice deep and warm, his grin showing rows of perfect white teeth. “I’m Bomin, I thought I would come introduce myself, as we’ll probably be seeing a lot of each other. I’m one of Jangjun’s flatmates.”

Bomin looks like someone from a Hollywood movie, the charming love interest of a teen coming of age flick, and is dressed the part too, wool vest over a crisp white shirt, hands casually tucked into his trouser pockets. Sungyoon is aware of the eyes of his classmates around them, clinging to the boy. He’s what Sungyoon had imagined, when Jibeom had described one of his friends as a _charmer._ But though the fairness of his features isn’t lost on Sungyoon, not by far, there’s something too.. _sweet_ , about Bomin, for him to fully understand the gazes lingering on him. Too boy-next-door, almost dizzyingly bright, when standing next to someone with sharper edges- wait.

_Get it together, Choi Sungyoon, what are you thinking?_

“I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon,” he says, just as Jangjun finally turns to look at him, and it becomes clear how long the silence has started to stretch between them.

“Why waste time?” Jangjun shrugs. He lifts his chin, indicating somewhere behind Sungyoon. “Your admirer doesn’t seem to have any intentions of backing down.”

Sungyoon glances over his shoulder to see the purple haired boy sitting at a table with a few of their other classmates, glaring across at Jangjun with an ugly, dark expression. Jangjun raises one hand and gives him a lazy wave, radiating annoyance.

Sungyoon eyes him warily. “You look as if you’re about to start a fight.”

Bomin laughs, a ringing, pleasant sound that doesn't really make Sungyoon feel better. “Oh, he’s all bark and no bite. Isn’t that right, Jun?”

Jangjun glares at him scathingly for a moment, but then crosses his arms over his chest, and his expression neutralises. “We’ll walk you back to your dorm, if that’s where you’re heading.”

“That’s really not necessary-”

“Of course not,” Bomin laughs. “But I had meant to talk with Seungmin anyway. Walk with us?”

Sungyoon nods bashfully, one hand clinging to the strap of his bag on his shoulder, embarrassed for thinking they were both here just for him, but Bomin smiles and beckons him, and they all start down the path back to Sungyoon’s accommodation together.

“Were you waiting long?” 

Bomin shakes his head. “Not long at all. How was class?”

“Class was...good.”

The taller boy hears his hesitation and giggles. “There’s no need to be so polite,” he says, eyeing Sungyoon’s careful expression with mild amusement. “We have boring classes we have to suffer through as well, you know.”

“No, it was- it was fine, I just couldn’t really concentrate-”

“If he’s bothering you, you could inform the college,” Jangjun interrupts, and Sungyoon is fairly certain he catches Bomin rolling his eyes at the bluntness, and at the idea.

Sungyoon himself isn’t sure how to respond. Of course, he’d considered speaking to a member of the faculty about the issue, but he’s not sure whether the problem is large enough to concern his tutors with. He’s resigned himself to try Jibeom’s way first, and see the results. 

He’s saved trying to think of an answer, though, when a familiar bundle of orange fur hops into the sidewalk in front of them, and they stop short. It’s the same tabby cat he’d seen his first night on campus, a slender, yellow eyed thing just bigger than a kitten, and Sungyoon misses the way Bomin and Jangjun meet each other's eyes behind him as he immediately drops to pet it. It purrs, wide yellow eyes gazing up at him, and Sungyoon feels a delighted wave of fondness spread through him from where his fingertips card through soft fur.

“Do you like cats?” Bomin asks, still standing behind him, and Sungyoon tenses as if he’d forgotten about the other boys.

“Oh.” He turns to face them, but the cat slinks around his legs and demands attention, and he’s too pleased that it seems to like him to do anything but scratch behind its ear and listen to it purring at him again. “I love them. It’s strange, though, usually I’m allergic.”

Bomin smiles, eyes flickering from the cat to Sungyoon and back. “He seems to like you too.”

“I’ve petted him before. Maybe he remembers me.”

Bomin hums a laugh and opens his mouth to say something, but then stops, as a giant brown moth flutters through the air beside him, coming to land on his shoulder as they watch. Bomin doesn’t seem to mind it there, looking only slightly bewildered as it languidly bats its wings, but Jangjun tuts and swats at it, sending it up into the air again.

Sungyoon follows it with his eyes and says, “I keep seeing them everywhere.” Both of them look at him strangely. “There must be loads of them in this area, around college.”

“Must be,” Bomin agrees, though there’s something unnatural to his smile, this time. It must have been a strange thing to say.

Jangjun’s face turns away from their group with disinterest. 

“Joochan!” he calls, and Sungyoon turns to see the boy approaching from a little way behind him. He surprises himself by feeling relieved- though he can’t claim to know Joochan any more than he knows the other boys, there’s something about the elegant boy that puts him more at ease. Joochan’s more certain of himself than Bomin seems, doesn’t try so hard to make Sungyoon feel comfortable, more casually attentive rather than painfully polite. He’s not as strange or as moody as Jangjun seems to be, either, not as intimidating, not as dark.

“Sungyoon!” he cries, as he sees them all standing on the sidewalk. “What a pleasure.”

Sungyoon feels himself blushing at the compliment and clears his throat awkwardly, though he can’t fight his smile. “On your way to class?”

“Actually,” Joochan says, “I was chasing after a particularly troublesome- ah,” he cuts himself off, smiling as he sees the ball of orange fur meowing happily in Sungyoon’s arms. “I see you’ve found him for me.”

Sungyoon glances down at the cat he’d scooped up from the asphalt with surprise. “He’s yours?” 

“Not exactly.” Sungyoon’s too busy smiling down at the kitten meowing at him to see how Joochan smiles desperately at the other two boys. “He’s, um-”

“He’s more of a campus cat,” Bomin finishes. “Does'nt really have an owner, just wanders around college. Joochan looks after him sometimes.”

“Exactly,” Joochan sighs. Sungyoon mistakes the relief in his voice for fatigue after chasing after the furry troublemaker in his arms, and laughs.

“That’s nice of you.”

Jangjun bats at the moth still hovering in the air by his face. “Sure, it’s really good of him. Just make sure the little demon doesn’t run into a road and get flattened by a bus or something.”

Joochan sees the way Sungyoon’s grip on the cat tightens and tries not to grimace. Though he knows exactly why Jangjun’s being unusually grumpy, he feels the need to highlight, to Sungyoon at least, that this isn’t _usual_ behaviour for him, so he asks, “What’s wrong with you?”

Thankfully, Bomin understands what he’s doing and shakes his head, as if he too were exasperated by this uncharacteristic gruffness. “He’s had a bad day.” He gestures up the path Joochan had just appeared from. “We’re going to Daeyeol’s place, if you’d like to join us.”

But Joochan shakes his head. “I told Youngtaek I’d meet him on the rooftop.”

Whoever Youngtaek is, this seems to be a known routine, because Bomin just nods and says goodbye, and Jangjun steps aside to let Joochan pass. Just as Joochan’s back is to them, the cat leaps from Sungyoon’s arms to follow him, trailing slowly at his heels. Bomin makes a happy, almost laughing sound and watches them leave just as Sungyoon does.

Jangjun huffs and strides past them both.

Seungmin is standing in the corridor, just stepping into his room, when Sungyoon leads the other two boys into their shared apartment. He turns toward the open door and sees Sungyoon’s company, scowls, and immediately slams his door loud enough for a startled yelp to sound in another room. Daeyeol sticks his head into the corridor through a crack in his door.

“What was that?”

“That’d be my fault, I suppose,” a voice sighs behind Sungyoon, and Daeyeol squints and finds Jangjun’s face in the dimness. 

Daeyeol huffs a laugh and steps out into the hall, shutting his door quietly behind him. “I don’t doubt it,” he says, and the fact that he at least sounds a little amused makes Sungyoon’s heart stop pounding so loudly in his ears. The strange tension between Seungmin and the dark haired boy behind him makes him more nervous than it probably should- perhaps because he feels as if he’s taking a side in an argument he knows nothing about, by parading around with Jangjun. But if Daeyeol is making quips, maybe it isn’t as serious as he’d thought.

“Can I help you boys with something?” Daeyeol asks, as he leads them to the kitchen.

“We were just walking Sungyoon home,” Bomin says, strangely deferential, like a child talking to someone else’s mother, like the few times Sungyoon had brought friends from school home and watched bemusedly as they spoke to his mother in that strange, saccharine tone.

Daeyeol just smiles and takes a seat at the kitchen table. “That was awfully nice of you.”

Jangjun looks more natural, at least, as he scoffs, picking up on the subtle note of suspicion in the vampire’s voice.

“Jibeom told you about his plan, didn’t he?”

Daeyeol laughs. “I have to say, I never thought you two would agree to it. Particularly you, Sungyoon.”

“It’s nice to see you have so much faith in me,” Jangjun says drily, as Sungyoon opens and closes his mouth in search of something to say. 

Quietly excusing himself, Bomin slips from the kitchen, and Sungyoon watches through the glass panel as he knocks on Seungmin’s door and disapears inside.

“Aren’t you going to be late for your class?” Daeyeol's asking, and Sungyoon, surprised, turn back to look at Jangjun in time to see the dark haired boy shrug.

“I can’t be late if I don’t bother to show up.”

“ _Jangjun_ -”

“Save your lectures, grandpa, it wasn’t an important class.” Jangjun rubs at his eyes, and Sungyoon realises that even now they’re inside, he hasn’t removed his sunglasses. They’d become something he’s so used to seeing balanced on the other boy’s nose that he hadn’t realised that was strange until now.

“Tell Bomin I’m gone, would you?” Jangjun asks, and Sungyoon gives a jolting nod when he realises he’s the one being addressed. “And give Seungmin my love,” he adds, making Daeyeol snort, and then he’s stepping out of the kitchen.

“Go on,” Daeyeol says, before an awkward silence can settle in Jangjun’s absence, saving Sungyoon from thinking of something to say with a jut of his chin towards the kitchen door. “Bomin will want to know where he is.”

Seungmin opens the door to his bedroom with a stormy expression, clearly expecting to find Jangjun on the other side, but he lets Sungyoon in without argument, the irritation clearing as soon as he sees who had really knocked on his door. 

“Jangjun told me to tell you he-”

Bomin waves his words away before he can stutter to the end of his sentence. “I know, he has a class.” His dark eyes flicker to Seungmin standing above him, and a smile passes so quickly across his face, Sungyoon isn’t sure it had ever been there at all. “Did he say anything else?”

Though he knows it won’t be taken well, Sungyoon complies, and answers, “Just to give Seungmin his love.”

The blond boy scoffs angrily and drops onto his bed. “ _ Alphas _ .”

Sungyoon frowns. “I didn’t think there were fraternities here.”

“There aren’t,” Seungmin says, both too loudly and too quickly, catching his mistake a moment too late.

Bomin sees Sungyoon’s wide eyes and laughs nervously. “Not anymore,” he adds. “When he and Jangjun were first years, there were. That’s what Seungmin means. Right, Seungmin?”

“Right," the blond boy nods. "Exactly. What else would I be talking about?”

Sungyoon glances between them. “Right,” he repeats.


	7. Out Of Town

The plan at least begins tamer than Sungyoon had expected.

When Jangjun had agreed so easily, he’d thought the plan would kick into action immediately, that he’d see the dark haired boy everywhere, but that hasn’t been the case, at least so far. The only times they’re together are times like this, when Sungyoon is walking out of his classroom, and spots a dark shadow waiting for him outside of his building. Jangjun hasn’t talked to him very much, never mind touched him, and Sungyoon can’t help but wonder whether the plan can possibly work if they continue like this. Jeonghan, as Sungyoon had come to know the purple-haired boy as, was wary after seeing Jangjun outside their department last time, but he’d barely shown since, and Jeonghan had instantly gone back to his usual behaviour. He’s chatting happily away to Sungyoon even now, as Sungyoon nods and tries to brush him off, as they step outside and both spy the boy waiting a few paces away at the same time. The arm Jeonghan has around Sungyoon’s shoulders slips, for a moment, and then tightens around him, drawing him closer.

Jangjun rolls his eyes behind his glasses but doesn’t do anything as they stop in front of him. “How was class?” 

Sungyoon blinks up at him a little helplessly. Jangjun gives a discrete nod of encouragement that he only just manages to spot. “I missed you.”

The grin that had been starting to pull at Jangjun’s lips stretches into a larger, warmer shape. “Me too,” he says, playing along, glad that Sungyoon at least has the sense to start their charade despite how uncomfortable he looks under the other boy’s arm.

The purple haired boy looks between them derisively, a sour expression already taking over the sly, teasing joy that had been on his face when they’d left class. His eyes are cold as they trail up and down Jangjun. “Who are you?” 

_Christ,_ he hates these damned glasses. Glaring doesn’t work as well with them on, but he can’t remove them with Sungyoon staring at him. He drops his chin a little so Jeonghan might still be able to pick up on the fact that he’s glaring at where his arm rests around Sungyoon’s shoulders and says, “I think I should be the one asking that.”

Jeonghan laughs, little more than air and incredulity, and doesn’t move his arm. “I’m a friend from class.”

Wryly, the corner of Jangjun’s lips turns up. “A friend, are you?” Disbelief and smugness mingle in his voice, and just to see Jeonghan’s scowl deepen, he adds, “He’s never mentioned you.”

The Fae gives him a sharp grin. “Nor you.”

Sungyoon surprises them both by shrugging out of the hold, but though the move was deliberate and obvious, his voice is small when he says, “Yes I did.”

By the irritation that flickers across Jeonghan’s expression, when he puts two and two together, Jangjun can’t help but wonder what it is that Sungyoon has said about him. Clearly it hadn’t been much, for Jeonghan not to know who he was, but he guesses it’s a start, still.

“ _This_ is the guy?”

“I’m the guy,” Jangjun smiles. There’s an edge to his grin, something unkind in his voice, that has Sungyoon peering closely at him, and he curses himself silently. With the full moon in a few days time, he’s having a harder time than usual controlling his mood swings. One Fae who doesn’t know his place shouldn’t be making him this angry, but his hands are fisted in his jacket pockets, and Sungyoon’s clearly seeing something dark in his expression, to look so wary.

Jeonghan seems far less cautious. “He’s not what I was expecting,” he says, tipping his head, and Jangjun bites sharply on the inside of his cheek as eyes flicker over him. Sungyoon’s hovering uncertainly between them two of them, though he still looks as if he’d rather just take off running and put as much distance between him and the long haired boy as possible.

And, God, he’s just going to have to do it, isn’t he?

Jangjun reaches out and grabs one of Sungyoon's hands where it’s tugging self-consciously at a thread on his sweater, hauling him close. The pain is instant. The silver of Sungyoon’s ring starts to burn the soft flesh of his palm as soon as he touches it, and he tastes blood, biting too firmly down on his tongue to hold in a yelp of pain. Both boys stare at him, wide eyed, for different reasons.

He somehow finds the will to tighten his hold and not let go, agony shooting up his arm, as Jeonghan eyes where their fingers intertwine. He must have noticed all of the silver Sungyoon’s wearing, to be so cocky, but now Jangjun is clinging to him anyway, he seems to reconsider his confidence. He takes a half step back as Jangjun forces himself to smile, and then scoffs, and turns on his heels.

Sungyoon’s heart races at an impressive speed as they watch the other boy walking away. Jangjun’s grip is painfully tight, crushing his fingers, but he doesn’t want to say anything. As soon as Jeonghan’s back inside the department, Jangjun’s leaping away from him, as if just his touch had burned him. Sungyoon rubs at the back of his neck, feeling shaky and embarrassed and a little disappointed.

Jangjun shoves his hands in his pockets and tries not to think about the pain.

“That went as well as could be expected,” he laughs, and the sudden change in his demeanour catches Sungyoon off guard. He’s usually so quiet and hard to read, that the sudden humour is surprising, especially after how he’d acted toward Jeonghan.

Sungyoon laughs back, more a nervous, uncertain sound than genuine mirth, and nods because he can’t think of anything to say. He stretches out his fingers, feeling the ache in them, and Jangjun winces guiltily as he sees the discomfort pass over the other boy’s face. He hadn’t meant to be so rough, but in his pain, he must have clung to him with more force than he’d intended.

With no one between them, the silence stretches unbearably. Jangjun is usually the furthest thing from Sungyoon’s calm quiet, but his mood swings have made him cautious, and he has so much to hide, now, he can’t act like his usual self anymore. He struggles for something to say to put Sungyoon at ease, because he still looks so uncomfortable, but Sungyoon’s eyes pass over his face and beat him to it. 

“You look...different,” he says, hesitating when Jangjun looks toward him. 

It’s something Jangjun had been expecting, sooner or later. He knows all of the differences already- the pallor of his skin, the redness in his eyes, the mood swings and the shivers- but Sungyoon doesn’t seem to notice all these bigger changes. He narrows his eyes, for a moment, trying to find what it is, and then his eyes settle on one of the smaller details, and he says, “Your hair.”

Jangjun self-consciously touches the lighter part of his hair with his fingertips. Since Sungyoon had saw him last, more of his coat had disrupted the darkness of his hair, and now one side of his head is almost entirely covered in patchy, sandy brown. “Oh.”

“I like it. It suits you.”

_Oh, God, Sungyoon, stop talking._

Jangjun’s smile is too sharp, like he doesn’t know what to make of the compliment, and Sungyoon wonders how he’s managed to misstep so quickly. Clearly, he’s said something he shouldn’t, but he can’t figure out what he’s done wrong.

Jangjun coughs into his hand, pushing his glasses further up the brink of his nose, though they hadn’t slipped. “So... I actually came to tell you I’m going to be out of town for a few days. Joochan said he’d watch out for you when I’m gone.”

Sungyoon blinks at him. “ _Watch out_ for me?”

“Just until I’m back. I know it’s bad timing, but it’s just until tuesday, so, I’m sure it’ll be fine. You can pretend you’re still meeting me for lunch or something, Jeonghan won’t know the difference.”

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

Jangjun raises a brow. “Are you? He was even worse than I thought he’d be.”

He knows it’s weird to come to Jeonghan’s defense now, when he really doesn’t want to say anything nice about the boy, but Sungyoon finds himself doing it anyway. “It isn’t always like that. It was just because you were here-”

“What did you tell him?” Jangjun asks, interrupting his excuses.

Sungyoon cringes inwardly, but somehow manages to sound casual and confused as he asks, “About what?”

He’s graced with something that’s almost a smile before Jangjun cuts through his facade. “Don’t play dumb. You said you’d mentioned me.”

“Not by name,” Sungyoon says immediately, as if he’s worried Jangjun wouldn’t like the fact that he’d been spoken about when he wasn’t there. “He just kept trying to make plans, so I said I was already going to meet a friend.”

His palms itch as the burn from the silver starts to heal, and Jangjun’s voice comes out sharper than he’d meant it to. “We’re not supposed to be friends.”

A beat of silence only emphasises the firmness of the statement. Not for the first time, Jangjun wishes for some duct-tape, or a gag, or the ground to open up below him and swallow him, anything that’d stop him from somehow _always_ finding the wrong thing to say.

“I know,” Sungyoon says, so quiet Jangjun barely hears him, “I just…”

Jangjun sighs. The pain has mostly faded, the angry red welt that must have burned into his palm almost done healing itself, and without the pain he realises he’s being pushy, and Sungyoon has started rubbing at his neck in discomfort.

“It’s alright,” he says, softening his tone. “I just meant that if you keep playing so nice, he won’t stop bothering you. We’re doing this so he’ll back down, remember?”

Sungyoon nods, though he keeps scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He doesn’t know whether he should tell Jangjun that he’d been far less nice to Jeonghan already, with no affect, because the other boy had just laughed as if he were joking, no matter how obvious it got that he wasn’t. 

“Where are you going now?” Jangjun asks, feeling guilty, hoping Sungyoon will see that this is his way of apologising. “I’ll walk you.”

Sungyoon points up the path leading from his department. “Just back to my dorm.”

Eyes narrow behind dark sunglasses. “It’s your lunch period now, isn't it?”

“How...how do you know my schedule?”

With a shrug, Jangjun answers, “Joochan told me.” 

“How does _Joochan_ know my schedule?”

“Joochan knows everything,” Jangjun says, as if that should be obvious. “Come on, we’re getting lunch.”

Sungyoon half-shakes his head and takes a step backward. “There’s food at my dorm-”

With a step forward, Jangjun follows him. “Eat with us instead.” When Sungyoon hesitates, he tilts his head, adding, “Jibeom hasn’t stopped talking about you, you’d make his day if you came.”

This sways him, almost instantly. Sungyoon sighs. “Alright.”

Jangjun smiles, and leads the way.

Jibeom is, in fact, _very_ happy to see him.

“Yoon!” he yells, making almost everyone lingering by their bench outside the music department jump with the sudden volume of his voice, and Jangjun laughs quietly as Sungyoon flushes pink.

“You’re embarrassing him.”

“It’s fine,” Sungyoon says, as he lets Jibeom pull him onto the bench, though it’s hard to deny his embarrassment when he’s currently the color of a raspberry.

Joochan, who’s lounging on the other side of the bench, smiles and greets him more quietly, and then gestures to an unfamiliar boy sitting cross legged on top of the table. “I don’t believe you’ve met Youngtaek,” he says, and the unfamiliar boy looks Sungyoon over with eyes so wide, he looks perpetually startled. The way his blue-tinted hair sticks messily in every direction does nothing to lessen the impression of him having just stuck a finger into an electrical socket.

“Hello,” Sungyoon says, hoping his expression isn’t revealing his thoughts, though Joochan looks amused as he watches him greet the stranger, as if he were expecting this reaction.

“I’m Youngtaek,” Youngtaek says.

Jangjun sighs as he sits on an end bench. “Joochan already gave him your name.”

“Ah,” Youngtaek laughs. Sungyoon begins to think that the startled energy of his appearance might extend further into his personality, too. “So he did.”

“Youngtaek lives with Jangjun,” Joochan’s saying, eyeing Sungyoon’s slightly overwhelmed expression with slight amusement.

“And Bomin and I,” Jibeom adds, “obviously.”

Sungyoon nods, but then looks across at Joochan with a frown. “You don’t live with them too?”

Jangjun rolls his eyes as Joochan shakes his head. “Joochan’s too good for a campus dorm.”

Joochan glares at him mildly. “The house you share isn’t college property either,” he points out. “But no-” his eyes swivel back to Sungyoon- “I don’t live with them.”

So that’s Jibeom, Jangjun, Bomin _and_ Youngtaek living together under one roof. Sungyoon isn’t sure he’s ever had to remember this many people’s names- suddenly, he’s very grateful for how distinctive they are, Joochan’s easy elegance, Jibeom’s brightness, Youngtaek’s wide-eyed dazzlement. And Jangjun.

“Not as if I don’t enjoy the company,” Sungyoon edges, “-really, I do- just, I have to ask...I have met _all_ of you by now, haven’t I?”

They all share a look that he can’t decipher. 

“There’s only one more of us,” Jibeom says, when it’s clear the others won’t say anything. It seems to break the tension slightly- Youngtaek nods and sinks onto the bench between Joochan and Jangjun.

“His name’s Jaehyun,” Joochan clarifies. “Another roommate, but he’s rather...evasive. You might not have the opportunity to speak with him at all.”

Though he’d like to sigh with relief, Sungyoon says nothing, thinking that perhaps showing that he’s grateful not to make another person’s acquaintance might be taken badly. He doesn’t mean to be rude, he’s just feeling slightly overwhelmed, being adopted into such a large friendship group so quickly, particularly because all of his own roommates seem to have a place in it, too. 

Just as he’s thinking this, Daeyeol rounds a corner in the distance. Sungyoon spots him just as Jibeom does, who surprises Sungyoon by making no reaction as the older boy approaches. He must have already known he was coming, because only when Daeyeol is saying hello to everyone does he acknowledge his presence, shuffling closer to Sungyoon on their side of the bench to make room for the taller boy. Daeyeol smiles down at Sungyoon almost shyly, and that’s when Sungyoon realises he’s holding a bundle of orange fur in his arms, and the cat he’d seen around campus springs out of his arms and leaps into Youngtaek’s lap, making him screech in terror.

Joochan tuts down at the little thing as it starts to paw at Youngtaek’s shirt. “Behave,” he mutters, and Sungyoon laughs, because of course Joochan would expect impeccable manners from the kitten, too, as if it were one of them.

“I found him stuck up a tree outside your house,” Daeyeol sighs, as he sits.

Youngtaek pats the cat’s head fondly. “Silly kitty.” The meow he receives in answer sounds like a whine, and Sungyoon giggles, missing the way Jibeom and Daeyeol meet each other's gaze and Jibeom scrunches up his nose at the sound, Daeyeol laughing at his boyfriend’s reaction.

Youngtaek, too, reacts to the sound. His wide eyes blink across at Sungyoon as if he’s seeing him for the first time. “You really like cats, huh.”

“Um, yeah, I guess. Normally I’m allergic, but I like this one.”

The orange kitten crawls up onto the table and pads towards him, and Sungyoon shyly reaches a hand toward it, fighting a grin as the kitten licks at his fingers and settles on the tabletop in front of him.

Jangjun rolls his eyes. “Leave it, it probably has fleas,” he mutters. “Or rabies.”

Sungyoon retracts his hand and makes a gallant effort to stop his smile slipping. “I...guess you’re more of a dog person, huh.”

Jibeom has to cough violently into his hands to stop himself laughing. Daeyeol pinches his knee sharply under the table, swiping a hand over his own face to hide the way his lips are twitching up into a grin. 

Jangjun scowls at them. Luckily, Sungyoon’s too busy petting the cat to see their reactions to the joke he doesn’t realise he’s made.

Joochan recovers first, burying his mirth deep, deep down with the promise to never stop teasing Jangjun about that whenever Sungyoon isn’t with them. “You must be hungry,” he says, to change the subject so Jibeom can recover.

“Oh, I’m-”

“I bought too much food for myself,” Jibeom lies, speaking over what he expects to be Sungyoon’s attempts to direct attention away from himself even if it means going hungry. He leans down to where a satchel lies against the edge of the bench and brings out a plastic box full of sandwiches. Daeyeol had mentioned, last time they’d spoken, that Sungyoon doesn’t seem to eat enough, for a human. “Here.”

Sungyoon waves it away, but the box is slid in front of him by at least three sets of hands. He glances around at the other boys at the table. “Are you not eating?”

“I’ve already ate,” Daeyeol says, lying, and Joochan, who can’t voice the same untruth, settles for a nod that Sungyoon just happens to take for agreement.

“Me too,” Youngtaek says, though this time it isn’t a lie. 

Daeyeol relents the fact that one of the only members of their group who’s human enough to stomach the food they sell in the campus cafeterias can’t eat with Sungyoon, to make him more comfortable, but then Jangjun sighs and goes inside without speaking, returning with a tray of food that he sets down unceremoniously on the tabletop, startling the cat from its resting spot. He then proceeds to glare fiercely at Jibeom over the tray until the druid hastily takes a plate.

Only when Jangjun is sipping an iced coffee and Jibeom is picking at a cake with a fork does Sungyoon actually start eating. Joochan tries not to stare, but Daeyeol still has to kick his shin under the table when Sungyoon catches his eye and almost sets the sandwich he’s eating down.

He makes a valiant effort, but Sungyoon’s only taken a few bites when Jangjun sets his coffee on the table almost untouched, and Daeyeol looks up to see him a sickly green color.

This close to the full moon, meat is usually the only thing he can stomach.

It’s sweet, in its own way. It’s undoubtedly stupid too, that Jangjun would make himself ill just so Sungyoon wouldn’t be uncomfortable eating alone, but still sweet.

Inspired, Daeyeol pats down his pockets and finds the unopened packet of chewing gum he’d bought a few weeks prior, when he’d first been informed about his new roommate. A vamp friend of his had told him a trick to seeming human, when mealtimes would be so difficult, and he’d bought the strange sweets from a convenience store immediately. 

He puts one of the strange squares on his tongue now, biting down, so he has something to chew on, so it looks like he’s someone who would eat like this, were he hungry. Of course, he doesn’t know what mint should actually taste like, but the sharp, sour taste on his tongue surprises him. Still, it’s not unbearable, and he’s told he only needs to chew it until the taste goes away, not swallow it, so he should be able to handle it.

He spots Sungyoon eyeing the packet of gum when he pushes the tray of sandwiches away and holds it out, curious.

“Oh. Thanks.” Sungyoon hesitates far less in biting down on the sweet, but then he scrunches his face up, and Daeyeol thinks for a horrible moment that he’s given him something he shouldn’t have, like giving Jaehyun tuna, before Sungyoon sneezes, and his expression clears.

Jangjun looks up at the quiet sound of it and sees the others gaping openly.

“Are-are you quite alright?” Joochan asks.

Sungyoon laughs bashfully. “It’s just the mint,” he says, pointing to the packet, and all of their heads turn to stare at the offending food.

“Does it usually do that?”

A frown twists Sungyoon’s slightly embarrassed expression. “Make you sneeze? Um-” he shuffles in his seat “-only sometimes. You don’t have that?”

Joochan shakes his head. “I wouldn't know.”

“He’s picky with food,” Jangjun says quickly. Joochan and the others look across at him in confusion, dazed, before they see his glare and remember that they’re supposed to be acting unsuspicious.

Youngtaek coughs awkwardly into his fist and takes a mint from the packet, throwing it into his mouth. Jangjun rolls his eyes at the disappointed expression that follows- he’d clearly been wanting to see if he'd have the same reaction as the human, but the sneeze hadn’t come.

Before they all fixate too much on this and Sungyoon starts to think of them as unthinkably strange, Jangjun decides to change the subject, and pushes himself up from the bench. Eyes follow the movement, as he steps away.

“I should be going,” he says, still green, clinging desperately to the idea of sinking into their sofa and not moving for a while. 

Sungyoon hears the finality to the statement and tries to sound cheery as he asks, “You’re leaving?”

Instantly, Jangjun regrets nodding, as a wave of nausea hits him. He manages to say, “I’ll see you in a few days,” and smile as Sungyoon nods back at him, and then he’s rushing back to their dorms and groaning as he curls up on his bed, curtains drawn, sore and tired and sick and not looking forward to the next few days.


	8. Flowering Distrust

Sungyoon wakes up the next morning as the only member of their group who isn’t painfully aware of the fact that the full moon is that night. 

Jibeom sighs as soon as his eyes are open, and Youngtaek grimaces, when he looks up from the detritus he’d been fussing over at his desk and sees that the night he’d wasted away had at one point transitioned into day. Joochan, a few miles away, wakes and spends a moment before he leaves for school cross-armed in the doorway to one of his guest rooms, watching the dark-haired shape on the bed with a pitying frown. They’d realised, a few months into knowing each other, that leaving Jangjun to Joochan in these few days every month where he loses control is better for everyone- a little outside of the city, he can be trusted not to do too much damage, and Joochan’s home is always filled with the necessary provisions. He's the best person in the group to turn concerned questions away, to come up with brilliant excuses, should the far-off neighbours see anything suspect, notice something they shouldn't. Not that it's a very difficult job. It will be a lot of sleeping, and scarfing food and sleeping again, before the transformation. Afterwards, Joochan will drop him back home for the others to handle, just as he always does.

Right now there's another matter demanding his time, so he checks all the locks on Jangjun’s door twice and then makes his way onto campus, approaching the first group of students he sees when he gets there. Jangjun had asked something of him in the days he himself can’t be at school, and Joochan had been more than willing to accept the task set for him.

Sungyoon wakes a few hours later, ignorant to what had happened in the hours he’d lay asleep in his room, when Jangjun had writhed pained on the floor of Joochan’s guest room, as Joochan had stalked around campus with his mission, as Daeyeol had sent a hundred comforting messages to Jibeom about how it would be fine, because it was always fine, and they just had to get through the day. He expects today to be just like any other, a boring monday morning where he avoids a certain boy in his classes and hopes to see some others, bright haired and warm, though he knows at least today will be different in one aspect. Jangjun isn’t with the others at lunch, nor is he waiting outside of Sungyoon’s classes, when he rushes out of them with Jeonghan calling his name.

 _It’s only a few days,_ Sungyoon reminds himself, but tuesday passes without a glimpse of the dark-haired boy. Sungyoon tries not to worry, reassures himself that Jangjun staying out of town for only one more day than he'd planned isn't something to be concerned about, but then tuesday ends, too, and Jangjun doesn’t show on wednesday, either. 

Sungyoon had expected, in Jangjun’s absence, that Jeonghan would become even more unbearable, clingy now that the only person that had been standing between them is gone. And that’s true of the first day. He sits beside him at every opportunity, sits _close,_ and he’s always a pace behind, when they’re walking between classes. He almost follows Sungyoon to lunch, before realising how many other boys Sungyoon is meeting. But Wednesday, there’s nothing. Thursday Jangjun doesn’t show again, but this time, when Jeonghan pushes through the doors to their morning lecture, his eyes land on Sungyoon and he scowls. He charges out of the room before Sungyoon can do more than gape at him. Their next class, he takes a seat at the front, and when the lecture ends and Sungyoon starts past him for the doors, he scrambles away as if scared to be so close.

Wariness and dread are a familiar mixture in Sungyoon’s stomach. He can't stop replaying something Jangjun had said before he’d left in his head, remembering the tone of his voice as he said it.

_Joochan will watch out for you._

It had made him nervous, without really knowing why. It’s not as if Joochan has ever given him reason to distrust him. On the contrary, he's one of the boys Sungyoon feels closest to, most at ease with. But that doesn’t stop the wariness beginning to gnaw at him, especially not when he realises he hasn’t saw Joochan all week, either.

And then there's the other things Jangjun had said.

_How does Joochan know my schedule?_

_Joochan knows everything._

Sungyoon hadn't even thought about it. He'd been distracted, and trying not to think too much about Jangjun's leaving, trying to keep his spirits from dropping. In hindsight, now, it's far easier to linger on these words, to feel them chill over him. Why hadn't he questioned them, what did they mean? What else does Joochan know, that he doesn't?

Sungyoon asks after him, that lunch time, when Jibeom is sitting with him in the grass outside the dormitory, a textbook spread out in his lap.

Jibeom hardly looks up from his reading as he shrugs. “Practising somewhere, probably," he says, unconcerned. "That's how he spends most of his time, on campus."

"Oh."

Something in his voice makes Jibeom look at him properly. After a moment, he says, "I can show you to the room he uses, if you’d like.”

Sungyoon thanks him, and then follows Jibeom across the grounds to the music department. He hasn’t been anywhere but the cafeteria or the benches by the entrance, and inside the building seems bigger, more spacious, than it had looked from the outside. It’s more modern than the buildings Sungyoon’s own classes are taken in, the ancient gymnasiums where he practices, all white paint and glass, pristine tile below their feet. Jibeom navigates the maze of corridors easily, knowingly, leading them up flights of stairs and around corners until they come to a soundproofed hallway lined on either side with rows of identical box rooms- most of them empty. The end one on the left is occupied, and when Jibeom swings the door open and gestures Sungyoon inside, they find Joochan at a grand piano, lost in a melody. There's a boy and a girl leaning against the piano, listening to him play. Neither of them look up when the door clicks closed.

“Chan,” Jibeom calls, but the music’s too loud, and none of the musicians notice them, until Jibeom strides across the room and taps Joochan lightly on the shoulder.

The music stops and, dazed, the unfamiliar students look between Jibeom and Sungyoon, who still lingers self-consciously by the door.

Joochan smooths his hair away from where it had fallen across his forehead. “I was practising.”

“Sungyoon wanted to speak to you,” Jibeom says, surprisingly apologetic. 

Joochan’s eyes flicker to the boy waiting by the door. Sungyoon nods, and clears his throat.

“Alone, if I could.”

The strangers leaning against the piano glare, and even Jibeom looks uncertain. Sungyoon hadn’t wanted to kick him out, had debated how to ask what he wants to ask in a way that won’t cause tension if Jibeom remained in the room, but then he’d saw Joochan, and the dark perfection of his suit, and the way the other students had been staring at him, and made up his mind.

Joochan, for his part, doesn’t seem concerned. He waves a hand at the strangers, smiling politely even as he dismisses him. “You heard him, go on.”

As they get to the door, his eyes find Jibeom, hovering motionlessly in confusion, and his smile grows more sincere, more reassuring. “Thank you for showing him the way,” he says, clearly another dismissal, and Jibeom sighs, but steps out of the room anyway, and closes the door again behind him.

The room is jarringly silent now, as Sungyoon steps further into the room and Joochan lowers the fall-board, standing to face him.

“Is there something I can help you with?” the Fae asks.

Now he’s here, it’s suddenly ridiculous, to voice the things he’d been worrying over. He doesn’t even know where to begin, but Joochan raises a curious brow, and Sungyoon finds himself blurting, “Jangjun said you’d look out for me, when he was gone.”

A lock of hair falls into one eye as Joochan nods, and he bats it away as he says, “And I have been.”

“In...in what _way_ , exactly, have you been looking out for me?”

Joochan smiles indulgently. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

But he does. There’s a glimmer behind his eyes just like there always is, though now Sungyoon has stopped thinking it’s charming.

“Jeonghan isn’t following me around anymore.”

“I see.” Sungyoon’s eyes fly across his expression, but he can’t see anything to hint that Joochan already knew this. “You're not pleased?" Joochan's asking. "I had thought you'd be relieved.”

Impatient, Sungyoon presses- “Does it have anything to do with you?”

Joochan gracefully raises a shoulder in a one-sided shrug. “How could it?”

“You told me you’ve been looking out for me,” Sungyoon points out, annoyed that Joochan hadn't said no, hearing his voice harden into something less friendly. Joochan drops the shrug, no longer smiling so politely, as if he’s started to drop his facade. “What did you _do,_ Joochan?”

The other boy draws back a few steps. His expression is cautious and blank as he crosses his arms. Quietly, he asks, “What do you think I did?”

Sungyoon hadn’t actually gotten that far. He’d put the two together- Jeonghan’s sudden disappearance and the fear on his face when he’d spotted Sungyoon, and Joochan’s busyness and implied interference- but doesn’t actually know what he’s expecting of the other boy. What does it mean, that as soon as Joochan had started ‘looking out’ for him, that everything had changed so suddenly?

“I don’t know,” he admits.

“You think badly of me,” Joochan says, seeing the distrust in the human’s face, the distance between them now that he doesn’t want to lessen. 

Sungyoon shakes his head as if he’s going to argue, but then he says, “I don’t know how to think of you anymore.”

That's what's really bothering him- not the idea that Joochan seems to exercise so much control over the happenings at the school, but that no one seems to question how, and- worst of all- that Sungyoon had felt so close to him so suddenly, and now hasn't the faintest idea _why._

Joochan perches on the piano bench and crosses one leg smoothly over the other. “My way was more successful than that juvenile plot Jibeom bullied you both into, wasn’t it? This is what you wanted.”

Sungyoon shakes his head- Joochan had practically admitted to interfering directly, but he hadn’t mentioned what _his way_ involved, and an uneasy feeling raises the hair at the back of Sungyoon’s neck. “I don’t know what you did, Joochan, but undo it. I don’t like anyone looking at me like I’m something to fear.”

Joochan looks up at him with unimpressed, narrowed eyes. “You’d rather have your stalker back?”

“ _Undo_ _it,_ ” Sungyoon says again. “Please. I won’t ask you what you did to him or how you did it, but I want you to stop.”

“That won't make the situation any better. He’ll go back to how he was before,” Joochan warns. “He might even be worse, now.”

A muscle jumps stubbornly at Sungyoon’s jaw. “I don’t care.”

For a moment, it seems as if Joochan will argue, as he stares up at him intently, a thoughtful curiosity the only emotion showing in his expression. Then he sighs, and stands again, offering Sungyoon his hand. “Very well. You have my word.”

Sungyoon doesn’t know whether he can trust that, but there’s nothing else he can do, so he thanks Joochan anyway, and shakes his hand, and then silently lets himself out of the room.

Jibeom is waiting outside, lounging on their usual bench, where they sit so often at lunch, when Sungyoon is the only one eating. Jibeom nibbles at a cake now and then, but the others- Sungyoon’s starting to wonder whether he was too quick to accept them all. They’re kind, and welcoming, and try their best to make him feel as if he’s one of them, but he’s not. Not yet, at least. He’s starting to see that now. The relief and gratitude of his first week, when they’d all come to his rescue, has worn off, and he’s seeing more clearly than he had then. There’s something off about them. Joochan's winning charm, Jangjun's heavy silences, Daeyeol's strange lapses into secrecy. He just doesn’t know what it all means, yet.


	9. Seeping Color

“What d’you think?”

Jangjun squints up at Youngtaek above him, standing by his bedside, leaning down over his face and turning his head in every direction for Jangjun to see. The transformation had seeped more energy out of him than he’d expected- even blinking is hard, and it takes Jangjun an age to realise Youngtaek has even spoken, as the younger boy blinks down at him expectantly. “What?”

“My hair!” Youngtaek says. “What d’you think?”

“It’s…” Jangjun blinks away the tiredness clinging to him, but even when his vision clears more, and he drags his aching limbs into a sitting position, he’s still confused at what he’s seeing. “What color is it supposed to be?”

“What? You can’t tell?”

Jangjun squints in concentration and Youngtaek gasps.

“It’s gray!” he cries, despair twisting his joyful expression.

Jangjun yelps as the younger boy throws himself down onto the bed, narrowly avoiding crushing Jangjun’s legs under his weight. “Grey,” he echoes, his voice raspy with sleep. He clears his throat and tries again. “Not blond?”

“No! It doesn’t look gray?”

There’s an almighty headache pounding at the back of his head that makes Jangjun long for an end to this conversation, but Youngtaek looks so put out that he doesn’t have the will to discourage him further. “Maybe a little?”

Youngtaek whines. “Why does nothing work  _ out  _ when I do it? It worked just fine for Jibeom!”

Jangjun frowns. He must have heard that wrong. “Jibeom changed his hair with an incantation?”

“Well, not exactly,” the younger boy admits, “he was teaching me to turn leaves a different color for Fall-”

The usual exasperation is at least a distraction from his aching fatigue- Jangjun’s almost thankful to have something to scold. “Youngtaek, for the  _ last time _ , the things Jibeom teaches you aren’t transferable tricks, you have to take them seriously! playing with magic can be  _ really _ dangerous.”

Youngtaek winces. “I was just trying it out,” he mumbles, twiddling his thumbs, a deep pout softening his words, and Jangjun sighs, and pats his head in apology.

“I know. But you should stick to what he teaches you, until you have more control.”

From the look on Youngtaek’s face, you’d think Jangjun was asking the world of him. “I’m not a druid, Jun, I’m a witch! There’s only so many lessons I can sit through about trees before I need to try something else!”

A thundering crash comes from somewhere outside Jangjun’s room. “ _ What?” _ someone cries. “I do  _ not  _ only teach you about trees!”

Youngtaek moodily rolls his eyes and Jibeom comes careening into the room, looking furious, before he spots the strange, murky shade of Youngtaek’s hair and forgets his anger in favour of unsurprised disappointment.

“Of course. Of course! I teach you to seep natural color, and this is what you do with it.”

Self-consciously, Youngtaek runs a hand through the muddled greyish blond strands of his hair. “I was just experimenting.”

“This isn’t high school chemistry!” Jibeom screeches, and then throws a hand up to cover his mouth when Jangjun groans and covers his ears. “I’m sorry. How are you feeling?”

“Like I need a new body,” the lycan mumbles. “This one hates me.”

Jibeom gives him a sympathetic pout. “Still sore?”

“Starving, too. I’ll be fine after I eat.”

They all know it’s going to take more than a few snacks before the effects of the full moon and the transition it had caused wear off, that what Jangjun needs is time and rest and more patience, but the other boys also know better than to nag at him, and so Youngtaek helps him through to the kitchen without comment, and Jibeom gets him a glass of water.

Jangjun fights the urge to slide all the way out of the chair they’d put him in and curl up on the cool kitchen floor. “Is there anything edible in the house?”

“Raw fish?” Jibeom suggests, laughing when Jangjun immediately turns green.

“There’s more than that,” Youngtaek argues, practically puffing out his chest with pride. “I got groceries.”

Jangjun laughs weakly at his smugness. “Well done,” he says, though he expects an inspection of the cupboards will show nothing but Pop Tarts and candy and a useless assorted ingredients he’ll need to think of some way to use up when he gets back on his feet. As one of the only two people in the house who regularly eats human food- the other being Youngtaek- Jangjun had taken on the responsibility of chef  _ and _ grocery shopper after seeing the disastrous results of letting Youngtaek be in charge of either of the two.

“I can do cereal, or toast, or-”

“I can get it!” Yountaek says, rising from his chair, but Jibeom calmly pushes him back down with one hand on either of the younger boy’s shoulders.

“We know you mean well, Taek,” Jibeom soothes, “but Jangjun’s still feeling fragile. I’m sure I can manage something simple.” 

Though Jibeom’s sweet tooth often shows itself in the form of covetous devouring of cakes and candy, Druids rarely eat more than raw berries, vegetables, when they even eat at all, and the lack of experience with proper  _ meals _ has left Jibeom only slightly more competent in the kitchen than Youngtaek.

“Forget it,” Jangjun says, not unkindly, groaning as he gets to his feet. “I don’t trust either of you to work the stove.”

He hobbles to the oven by resting against the countertops, more sliding than walking, and manages to find some bacon close to expiry in the fridge and a few stray eggs. His stomach rumbles continuously as his breakfast sizzles in the pan, and it feels like forever until he’s sitting back down, grateful to be off of his feet, but being mainly unconscious of everything except the food he scoffs in record time.

“Wow,” Jibeom says, and the sly light behind his eyes makes it clear that some terrible joke is coming, just before he says, “you really  _ wolfed _ that down, huh?” 

“You must have been  _ ravenous _ ,” Youngtaek adds, with a stupidly smug grin.

Jangjun rolls his eyes at the two of them and downs another glass of water. The pain in his head has started to recede, though his limbs are still shaky and uncertain, and the pain everywhere  _ else _ doesn’t seem to want to fade.

Jaehyun trails in when Jangjun’s on his second breakfast, trying to lazily smooth his tawny bed-head down with one hand. When his eyes land on Jangjun, he scowls, and drops into a seat at the table dramatically enough for the chair to creak alarmingly beneath him.

Jangjun sighs, seeing the glare still directed his way. “You’re not still mad at me, are you?”

“You said I had fleas!”

“You deserved it,” Jangjun grumbles, tearing his toast into ribbons. “You know you weren’t supposed to show up in your other form again. He can’t get attached, Jae. It could cause problems for all of us.”

“I-”

Jibeom hits Jaehyun on the head with a spoon as he passes. “He’s right. You said you’d show up  _ as a human _ .”

“Daeyeol carried me all the way to your table!” Jaehyun objects. “What was I supposed to do?”

Youngtaek grimaces- Jibeom, as expected, doesn’t take the blame moving to Daeyeol very well. He twirls from where he’d been sifting through cupboards with the wooden spoon still in his hand and points it between Jaehyun’s eyes. “Don’t blame this on Yeol. He didn’t know the plan!”

Mewling, Jaehyun bats the spoon from in front of his face. “Maybe  _ you _ should have  _ told _ him the plan, then!”

Jangjun throws his head back and screams at the ceiling. Youngtaek startles so much that he has to catch himself on the table to stop himself falling out of his chair- Jaehyun winces and covers his ears.

“I’m not in the mood for this,” Jangjun says, quieter, his voice rough. A flicker of red fades again from where it had lit in his eyes. “Can we suspend the bickering, for a while?”

“Sorry,” Jaehyun mumbles. 

Janjgun prods Youngtaek in the side and the younger boy gets to his feet, helping Jangjun shuffle clumsily into their living room and dropping him on one of the sofas, the same spot he always takes up, the coffee table and TV opposite him, the armchair Jibeom had dragged in one night last semester on his right. Jaehyun slinks guiltily into the room and takes a spot on the carpet under him, back against the edge of the sofa, and Jangjun pats his head once to show he’s not mad.

They watch a movie, some animated, fun thing that doesn’t require a great deal of concentration, and they let Jangjun dose off, rousing him for dinner, when Bomin returns with far too much takeout food for just Jangjun and Youngtaek to eat, though Jangjun eats as if he has three stomachs and Youngtaek makes a valiant effort to do the same, so he’s not the last one at the kitchen table. Jangjun takes another few days to recover.

It’s on thursday night that Jibeom notices his room is still light long after midnight, when he should be resting, and wanders into the en suite attached to see Jangjun squinting at his reflection in the mirror above the sink, half of his hair already run through with a near translucent, sticky white substance that smells sharply clinical.

Jibeom blinks in the harsh fluorescence of Jangjun’s bathroom and tries to understand what he’s seeing. “Whats, uh, what’s going on?”

“Dying my hair,” Jangjun says, distracted, not looking away from the mirror, running more bleach through another thick strand of hair by his ear.

“Uh huh.” Jibeom plucks the box of bleach from the sink and scans quickly over the tiny text printed into the cardboard. “I can see that. Why?”

“Sungyoon noticed the color changing before I left. If it’s suddenly all black again, he might have questions.”

Jibeom narrows his eyes. “He said he liked it, didn’t he?”

Hands still as Jangjun’s eyes flicker to his in the mirror. “What?”

“You expect me to believe you’re dyeing your hair for  _ contingency _ reasons?”

Jangjun frowns. “I  _ am  _ dying my hair for contingency reasons.”

“Please,” Jibeom scoffs, moving to sit on the edge of the toilet. “I can’t believe you’re bleaching your hair for the first time ever when you should be asleep just because one cute guy said he liked it to be nice.”

Jangjun goes back to staring into the mirror and ignoring him. “Whatever,” he grumbles.

The red haired boy laughs. “You could have just saved yourself some time and asked me to do it for you.”

“You  _ can  _ do that?”

The druid shrugs. “Of course I can,” he says. “Easy . But if I told Taek that, I’d be dying his hair a new obnoxious shade every day.”

“I’ve started now,” Jangjun sighs, “I may as well finish it.”

“Isn’t the smell driving you crazy?” Jibeom wrinkles his nose- even without Jangjun’s heightened senses, the room is too small for such an overpowering scent, and it’s starting to bother him.

“I can practically taste it,” Jangjun admits in a groan. “And it says I need to keep it on for at least half an hour-”

Jibeom waves his hands impatiently in the air. “Alright, alright, stop, just let me do it for you, wash that stuff out.”

“Really?”

Jibeom shakes his head exasperatedly. “ _ Yes _ , Jun. I actually know what your coat looks like, I’m sure I can get closer to the color you want than some bottle of bleach you found gathering dust at the bottom of Youngtaek’s closet.”

He grabs him by the elbow and spins them, shoving Jangjun down onto the toilet and hovering over him, inspecting the damage he’d already managed to wreak on his hair with a sigh. 

Jangjun huffs, but lets Jibeom manoeuvre his head this way and that, feeling a strange tingling at his scalp when the druid’s hands start to card through the dark strands of his hair. “You should be in bed,” Jibeom says, eyes trained on a lock of hair darkening under his fingertips.

“I’ve rested long enough.” Jangjun mumbles, looking down at his hands, head bowed. “I’m fine.” 

The strange yellowish colour of the strand deepens to Jangjun’s natural raven shade, and Jibeom moves onto another, seeping out the clumsy bleached toner. Jangjun’s hair is almost entirely black again before he asks, “Are you?”

“ _ Yes,” _ Jangjun groans, “and I’ve been gone too long already. I’m done wasting away under bed sheets.”

Jibeom adjusts his head sharply so he can reach the back. Jangjun would yap at him for the harsh treatment if he didn’t know it’s just Jibeom’s way of showing love, not treating him like he’s a breakable thing, because he knows how much Jangjun would hate it.

He’s still annoyed at him, though, when Jibeom easily translates his excuse, sees right through it. “You mean you’re worried about Sungyoon.”

Knowing there’s no use in denying it, Jangjun asks, “Aren’t you?”

Jibeom surprises him by laughing. “I suspect he’s more capable of sticking up for himself than we know.”

“He’s a human surrounded by monsters, Ji.”

There’s a sharp flick to his forehead as Jibeom tutts at him. “I told you how I feel about that word.” As Jangjun grumbles, he goes back to his work, coloring a section of Jangjun’s hair sandy, bright brown, just like it had been a few days before the full moon. Then, hesitantly, he admits, “He went to see Joochan today.”

Jangjun’s guard is up instantly. He stills under Jibeom’s administrations. “Joochan?”

“Chewed him out better than I’d ever seen before,” Jibeom says, trying to sound casual, uncertain who Jangjun’s getting protective over. “It was quite something.”

“In front of you?” Jangjun asks, incredulous. Clearly, he’d shared Jibeom’s opinion that Sungyoon was non-confrontational.

“He asked me to wait outside, but I could still hear them.”

He’s not sure he wants to know the answer, but his curiosity and wariness gets the better of him, and after another few quiet moments, Jangjun’s asking, “What did Chan do?”

Which is the tricky part. Jibeom steps away with a sigh. “I’m not entirely sure,” he admits. “But whatever it was, Sungyoon made it very well known that it wasn’t appreciated.”

A seeping suspicion niggles in the back of Jangjun’s mind. It can’t be though, surely. “ _ Joochan _ ,” he mutters, irritated even at the thought of Sungyoon arguing with him, annoyed that he doesn’t know what to expect of Joochan, uncertain where his limits lie.

“What is it?” Jibeom asks, hesitantly. “D’you know what he did?”

Jangjun shakes his head, but then confesses, “I asked Chan to look out for Sungyoon when I was gone.”

Jibeom’s eyes widen. “What? I could have done that.”

“I know, Ji, I just thought...I don’t know, Joochan’s reach stretches farther. It shouldn’t have been difficult for him.”

Jibeom looks down at the tips of his fingers, dyed a faint orange from seeping the bleached tone from Jangjun’s hair. “What do you think he did?”

But it’s just a suspicion. And, even if it is true, and Joochan had gone too far, he doesn’t want to damage Jibeom’s good impression of him, not right now, so he shakes his head. Jibeom watches him closely as he stands and leans in to the mirror, brushing over streaks of lighter color in his hair.

“Thank you,” he says, and Jibeom drops it. “It looks exactly like I wanted it to.”

“Don’t thank me,” Jibeom smiles, looking pleased anyway. “Just get some sleep. I won’t stop you showing up to campus tomorrow if you look less like death when you wake up.”

Jangjun doesn’t argue. Though he had been sincere in his complaining, and the idea of losing more hours sleeping is still an irritating one, after the mind-numbing boredom of the last few days, he wants to be at his best, tomorrow, when he finally shows back on campus. 

So he says goodnight to Jibeom, and goes to bed, and tries not to feel so damned pleased about the idea of being back at school.


	10. Broken Machinery

Looking at his reflection in the mirror fills him, strangely, with anxious butterflies- seeing the color of his coat in his hair, thanks to Jibeom’s late-night helping, the dark, almost black of his eyes, that had been temperamentally shifting to red so often in the past week. He won’t need his glasses, anymore, but perhaps he’s gotten more used to having them on, because when he sees Sungyoon glance up at him, noticing their absence, he feels exposed, out in the open, and Sungyoon immediately looks away, as if sensing this new discomfort. Sungyoon at least seems marginally happy to see him.

Marginally.

“Is there something wrong?” Jangjun asks, as he walks Sungyoon from his morning class and sees him zone out for the second time on such a short walk. “Did something happen when I was gone?”

Though the sudden question had made him jolt, the other boy shakes his head. “What-no, nothing. Why would you ask?”

Jangjun’s nothing if not painfully honest. “Someone told me you’d had a disagreement with Joochan.”

Sungyoon gulps. “It was nothing,” he says, which might have been convincing, if it weren’t for the fact that he jumps a foot in the air when a conker drops from the tree they’re walking under. He’s skittish and tense and trying to hide it, for some reason, unaware of the fact that Jangjun can smell it on him, the anxiety giving the air around him a burnt, almost bitter scent, faint because of his humanness, but still undeniably there.

Jangjun scoops the offending conker from the asphalt with a sigh. “You’re jumpy.” 

_ And you haven’t looked me in the eye since saying hello,  _ he doesn’t add.

Their boots scuff asphalt as the conversation slows their pace, Jangjun falling back to walk by Sungyoon’s side as the human gets distractedly slower. 

“I just have a lot to think about,” Sungyoon says.

He’s clearly trying to change the subject, but there’s something unnerving about the idea of anyone confronting  _ Joochan, _ of all people, the Fae with a glamour so strong that even his closest friends, who’ve known him for years, sometimes find it difficult to say no to him. Though the time they’ve all spent together has stripped most of the compulsions and charm of his appearance away, to them, a human who’d practically met him a few days ago shouldn’t have anything bad to say about him. Just the fact that Sungyoon seems unwilling to talk about it is concerning.

And, well, Jangjun would be lying if he said he didn’t have more selfish motivations. He doesn’t want Sungyoon to think badly of the others- of him- because of his new and rather unexpected wariness of Joochan. 

He tries to sound casual and uninterested as he asks, “Anything I can help you with?”

Sungyoon goes to shake his head, but then stops. “Well- you could come with me to get coffee.”

It hadn’t been what he’d expected. Jangjun blinks dumbly without response for long enough that Sungyoon glances up at him quickly, concerned.

The lycan clears his throat, trying not to be annoyed by how quickly the other boy had lowered his gaze again. “Coffee?”

Sungyoon nods. “Yeah, I...I saw a place in town a while back that looked good, but I’m kind of shy, so…”

Ah. No doubt Sungyoon would have preferred to ask Jibeom, or Daeyeol, to accompany him, but now that Jangjun’s offered his help, he’s too kind to go elsewhere. That doesn’t mean Jangjun won’t seize this opportunity with both hands. He’s no stranger to being the talkative friend- though Sungyoon perhaps doesn’t know this yet, considering how quiet and secretive Jangjun had been with him so far- and it’s not the first time someone had asked him to accompany them on some errand for morale.

“I could use a coffee,” he says, and sees Sungyoon try and fail not to sigh with relief. 

_ Wow. He’s really not a fan of strangers, huh? What could he possibly think of  _ me _ to keep avoiding my eye? _

“Yeah?” Sungyoon’s asking, quietly.

Jangjun nods, resolutely, and tries for his warmest smile. “Yeah.” He holds a hand out in front of him, gesturing for Sungyoon to walk past with an exaggerated, gentlemanly formality. “I’m right behind you.”

They talk a little on the way, though it’s really not far. Sungyoon even seems to loosen up a little, managing at least a few moments of eye contact before becoming uncomfortable and looking away, which Jangjun tells himself is a win. It goes well, then, until they actually  _ get _ to the coffee shop, and Jangjun sees the familiar signage outside, the blue glass windows and white floral arrangements that he’s seen a hundred times before. Though he instinctively holds the door open, and lets Sungyoon walk in before him, he curses very loudly and extensively in his head as they step into the cafe.

_ What the hell am I going to do now? _

An elegant, copper haired boy behind the counter looks up as they join the short line; Joochan, aproned and looking more surprised than Jangjun thinks he’s ever saw him, stops blinking blankly at Sungyoon only to stare at Jangjun as if he’d lost his mind. This might be easier if he had. No amount of thinking right now can provide him a good enough excuse to steer Sungyoon out of the doors before they can get to the counter.

_ Think, Janjgun, think. _

“Um, do you mind holding our spot while I use the restroom?” Sungyoon points hesitantly to the cardboard cutout printed with the menu beside them. “I was just going to order an Americano, I can pay you back if they serve before-”

“Of course!” Jangjun says, with far more enthusiasm than necessary. Sungyoon almost laughs, and then turns and steps out of the queue on his way to the restroom. 

Joochan smiles at the customer he’d been serving, sprouting the same pleasantries he always does without even looking at them, and then waves Jangjun over to the other side of the counter as his colleague takes over. He’s wearing an almost blank expression that would look nonchalant on anyone else but looks, on Joochan, as if he’d just watched Jangjun pluck the feathered hat from the lady in front of him and swallow it whole whilst dancing a jig.

“What are you doing here?” he hisses, and Jangjun raises a consoling palm and tries to sound much calmer and more in control than he feels.

“Sungyoon mentioned wanting to visit a coffee shop near campus, I didn’t know he meant this one.”

Joochan gestures to the menu boasting ordinary coffee blends and teas that are actually Fae concoctions that’d send Sungyoon into the clouds with half a sip. “He can’t  _ drink _ anything here!”

“I know that, Chan! I was hoping you’d come up with some clever lie, or- or we could say the coffee machine is broken-”

“ _ I’m Fae!”  _ Joochan whispers furiously at him. “I can’t lie!”

“Then  _ I’ll _ lie!” Jangjun whispers back, just as furiously.

Joochan sighs. “The machines are working fine and he’ll see that, Jun, he’s not blind.”

“Then we- we” he cuts off, floundering, but they both hear the door creaking open at the same time, across the floor, and he just  _ knows _ that’s Sungyoon coming out of the restroom, and any moment now he’s going to look around and spot them arguing either sides of the counter and walk up-

Jangjun leaps half across the counter and grabs the first pipe he can find. It comes away in his hand with a violent clanging, and then a hiss of steam erupts from one of the machines.

Joochan’s mouth drops open. “Wha- Jangjun!”

“Now you won’t have to lie!” Jangjun whispers desperately, and then glances over his shoulder. There  _ is _ a boy stepping out of the restroom- it had been the right door, he’d heard- but it isn’t Sungyoon. He shakes himself, both hands clutched to his chest, deaf to Joochan’s scandalised spluttering. 

With a groan, Joochan tears both hands through his vibrant copper hair. “Seriously, Jangjun. I age three lifetimes every time you  _ spring _ into action like this.”

“It was the only thing I could think of,” Jangjun says, breathless with panic, not sounding at all apologetic.

Both elbows drop onto the counter as Joochan droops. “Do you have any idea how much these things cost-”

Jangjun, by now, has recovered some of his sense, and Joochan’s complaining under his breath is not taken well- the Fae stops speaking as a flicker of something irritable and dark passes over Jangjun’s features.

“You owe me for the stunt you pulled with Jeonghan,” he says, suddenly fierce, dropping the scalding metal pipe he’d torn from the machine onto the counter. “I didn’t tell you to do that, I just asked you to look out for him.”

Joochan’s incredulous expression falls away into an exasperated frown. “I figured we might as well cut a few corners-”

“ _ You _ , Joochan,” Jangjun corrects. “There was no ‘we’ in that decision. Aren’t there rules about compelling other Fae?”

_ Of course there aren’t any ‘rules’,  _ Joochan huffs silently.  _ It’s impossible. You have no idea how much work I did compelling everyone in their class  _ but  _ Jeonghan.  _

He doubts Sungyoon even noticed the difference, when an unfamiliar boy or girl spoke to him before class, slipped into the empty seat beside him, volunteered to be in his group for projects. Jeonghan had been spooked away, likely temporarily, but for as long as they needed until Jangjun’s return, sensing the mass compulsion but not its source, and Sungyoon would have been none the wiser if it hadn’t been for the fact that Jangjun mentioned Joochan by name. Joochan had thought it a rather marvellous plan.

But the truth would get him nowhere, because he knows how angry Jangjun would be to hear it, so he sighs and throws up his hands.

“Fine. Fine, alright, I acted out of line.”

It hadn’t even  _ gotten _ him anywhere, in the end. Forcing his glamour to extend in so many different directions, to compel so many subjects at once, had meant that it had weakened, and Sungyoon had started to see through it. All of the endearment his glamour usually won him had broken down into fragmented distrust, as it glitched, as Sungyoon was suddenly free to question just  _ why _ he’d trusted Joochan so quickly to begin with. Joochan should have expected it to happen, but he hadn’t even considered it until their argument in the music room, and now he’ll have to spend some more than a considerable effort working his glamour back up now that Sungyoon has already seen through it.

And Jangjun’s still glaring at him. Hoping it’ll placate him, Joochan adds, “It won’t happen again.”

Jangjun’s eyes burn into his. “You better mean that, Chan.” 

It might be unfair of Jangjun to be so angry. He should have known that Joochan was Fae just like Jeonghan is, and they have a habit of becoming attached to things very easily, and he might take  _ looking out _ for Sungyoon a little too far. But Sungyoon comes back before he can form an apology, so he drops the subject, and Joochan does too.

“Unfortunately,” the Fae says smoothly, with a professional sympathy suddenly on his face, “the machine’s broken, so I’m afraid I can’t serve you.”

Sungyoon frowns. “Oh- really? I was only gone-” the end of his sentence cuts off in a gasp as a spark flies up from the coffee machine, and Jangjun doesn’t know whether it was just a well timed coincidence or Joochan’s doing, but he takes it as an excuse to drag Sungyoon back from the counter. 

“Careful,” he says, stepping away as he feels Sungyoon freeze. “Really, there’s a lot of other coffee shops with better service than this one-” he sees Joochan give him a glaring, askance look at this, but he’s already turning to fiddle with the machine as if there’s any hope of fixing it, so he doesn’t reply. “I can take you to another one.”

“Well-alright, then,” Sungyoon concedes, with an anxious glance at the steaming coffee machine. Jangjun feels giddy with relief as he steers them to the door.

“Don’t you want to say goodbye to-”

“Bye, Joochan!” Janjun cries over his shoulder, without bothering to glance behind him, and Sungyoon skips to keep pace with him, back out into the open air of the street.

Compared to the composure of the coffee shop, where orderly lines of patrons and subdued background music had already started to have a calming effect on Sungyoon’s uneasy nerves, the street is instant chaos, and he has to leap aside immediately as he steps out onto the sidewalk, a trio of college kids racing past just shy of colliding with him. He almost tangles himself in the lead of a particularly excitable Pomeranian as he tries to dodge through crowds, receiving a less than friendly glare from its walker, and jolting as a baby erupts into screaming cries as it passes in a stroller. Flustered, and already slightly breathless, he looks up the street to find Jangjun waiting in the shade of a store doorway, hands in his pockets, seemingly unbothered by the bustling and the noise and so many moving bodies. He must be used to the city.

Sungyoon rushes to meet him in the doorway, thankful for at least a moment tucked away from most of the chaos.

“Sorry,” he says, and his voice is uncertain and airy.

Jangjun shrugs good-naturedly. “You’re not from the city, huh.”

“How could you tell?” Sungyoon asks, sarcastically, swiping a hand through his hair. Jangjun watches him, amused, and steps back into the river of motion outside their little patch of shade, seemingly oblivious to the way he blocks several people’s paths, and they skid to a halt and duck past him. 

“You still want that coffee, don’t you?”

His dark eyes are intent as they settle on Sungyoon’s, encouraging and challenging at once, and Sungyoon laughs and steps into the street. He’d all but forgotten about the coffee, but there are other reasons he doesn’t want to go back to his dorm now.

Saying he’s still wary of Jangjun might be an understatement, and this  _ really _ isn’t the way he’d imagined finding friends, but Jangjun must be in a better mood today than Sungyoon had seen him in before, because he’s talkative and funny and attentive as they find a Starbucks and get takeout coffees, once or twice even pulling Sungyoon to his other side so he’s further from the road and Jangjun closer to the crowds, sensing Sungyoon’s apprehension. 

An idea comes to Jangjun now, as they loiter in front of the Starbucks Sungyoon had gaped at as if it was anything special, cupping their coffees in both hands, both uncertain where to go. Sungyoon doesn’t immediately mention walking back to campus, so Jangjun entertains the impulse, and starts in the opposite direction.

“Where are we going?” Sungyoon says, as he skips to keep up, and Jangjun, far too pleased with the fact that he’d followed, just shrugs.

“You’ll see.” He offers his forearm, and Sungyoon on instinct slides his hand into the crook of his elbow, before realising what he’d done, and hesitating. “So I don’t lose you,” Jangjun says, quirking his chin at the crowds, and Sungyoon nods, and keeps a hold of him.

It’s a short walk, and Jangjun had long since worked out all of the best shortcuts, so they reach the row of storefronts before he’s even half done with his coffee. As he passes one of the huge, clear windows, a sudden bark startles Sungyoon into almost dropping his cup, his arm slipping from Jangjun’s, and Jangjun turns to see him wide-eyed and gaping at the little huddle of pups by the window.

“What’s-” his eyes flicker up to the store name “-where are we?”

He slides closer to the window, still wide eyed, and makes a surprised, happy noise as one of the puppies starts leaping about, wagging its tail at him.

“A pet shop?”

Janjgun stands back and watches him waving at the dogs, tapping the window playfully, seeing the wide grin that’s stretching Sungyoon’s lips in the reflection of the glass. He thinks it’s the first time he’s really seen him smile.

“I thought you might want to see where I work,” he says.

In the window, Sungyoon’s eyes fly to his and then away. “O-oh.”

“I only work weekends, but if you need me then, I’ll probably be here.” He shrugs, sipping at his coffee, as Sungyoon turns to stare through the glass windows. “And I know you like that fleaball that wanders around campus, so…”

Without turning away from the window, Sungyoon asks, “This is why I never see you at track?”

So he’d noticed. But that doesn’t have to mean anything. For all Jangjun knew, Sungyoon could be relieved everytime he realised he wasn’t there.

“I take part in the competitions,” he says, “but most of the time when the club meets, I have work. Joochan’s friends with the Captain, so he convinced her not to kick me out. Plus, I’d like to think they need me, to win all the medals.”

He’s only joking, but Sungyoon remembers what Daeyeol had said, about him being one of their best runners, and thinks there’s probably some truth to that. He had known Jangjun would be out of town, when the track team had met as they apparently always did on Sunday morning, and hadn’t expected to see him, but it hadn’t seemed as if anyone on the team were surprised by his absence, either, and Sungyoon hadn’t saw him when he’d signed for the team. He’d had thought maybe Jangjun was just a slacker, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. He tries not to think about the subtle reference to another one of Joochan's 'friends' and the sway he seems to hold over everything. 

Jangjun holds the door open and Sungyoon sheepishly steps inside.

It’s small, but not as small as Sungyoon had expected from the outside, and he’s thrilled and probably a little  _ too _ excited to see the hutches and enclosures and row of fish tanks further into the store as Jangjun closes the door behind them.

“You really work here?”

“I like animals,” Jangjun shrugs, and Sungyoon turns to grin at him shyly.

“Just not cats,” he says, his quiet voice teasing.

“Yes,” Jangjung laughs, even though it isn’t true. “Just not cats.” There’s no way to explain his reaction to a certain troublesome tabby without giving too much away, so he guesses he’s just going to have to remain a fake cat-hater for now.

Sungyoon is hardly listening to him anymore. He’d slid up to one of the enclosures, a roofless glass square laid with hay and hutches, and is smiling at a snow-white rabbit that seems to be smiling back at him, too, as it hops up to the glass.

Jangjun is content to watch the exchange, trailing after Sungyoon as he steps away from the rabbits and moves onto the smaller enclosures, where the smaller rodents lie snoozing or run inside their little plastic wheels, but just as he thinks Sungyoon has forgotten about him, the human sips his coffee and clears his throat.

“Do the others work?” he asks, an easy conversation, Jangjun guesses, if a little disappointing. He doesn’t want to talk about his friends right now.

“No,” he replies, “just me. Well, Jibeom actually takes a few shifts in the agricultural department over winter break, as a student staff member, but that’s about it. It’s more like a volunteer project than work, making sure the plants in the greenhouses don’t grow into freshmen-eating monsters or something.”

Sungyoon nods and makes a cute, tutting noise at one of the hamsters, scrunching his nose up as the tiny paws of the creature rest against the glass. It seems even the animals want to be closer to him- practically every enclosure they’d walked past, they’d crowded up to the glass. 

“What about Joochan?” Sungyoon asks, as Jangjun bemusedly watches the hamster paw at the glass. “I hadn’t really expected him to be, you know-”

“A part timer?” Sungyoon nods, and Jangjun laughs. “Yeah, it’s not really about the money for him. He just has too much time on his hands.”

_ And he can’t stand being out of the city, _ he adds silently _. Too many people to charm, too many secrets to gather.  _ Jangjun swears, if he sees one of Joochan’s moths fluttering around Sungyoon one more time, he’s investing in a fly swatter.

The bell above the door rings, signalling a new customer, and on instinct Jangjun turns, something loud and pleasant on his tongue, the usual greeting, but pulls up short when he sees who it is stepping through the doorway.

Sungyoon looks up, too, from his conversation with one of the mice, and stiffens when he sees Joochan smiling at them both.  _ Uh oh,  _ Jangjun thinks.  _ That’s new. _

“I thought you were working,” Jangjun says, just to break the silence.

“My shift ended.”

_ How did you know we were here?  _ Jangjun wants to ask, still irritated that Joochan had appeared as if on cue, but knows he shouldn’t, and then he notices a huge moth fluttering against the corner of a window, outside. 

That’s it. He’s getting a flyswatter.

Behind him, Sungyoon shifts. There’s an unpleasant, sour scent to the air that the other two don’t notice. Jangjun thinks it’s unease- Sungyoon’s, most likely, if it’s so faint. Were he a wolf, Jangjun would be able to place the scent more, but it’s a good guess, anyway, because as he puzzles over it he notices Sungyoon is stubbornly avoiding Joochan’s eye, turned away with his profile to them.

_ Oh dear. _

“Joochan helps out here sometimes,” he says, at first not certain why he’s saying it, maybe just to fill the silence, until he sees Sungyoon glance up at him hesitantly and he realises he’s trying to get Joochan back on his good side. 

Damn it. He’s supposed to be mad at him too. 

But the subconscious need to ease the awkwardness, and defend his friends even to the point of stupidity, is too strong to ignore, so he lets Joochan get inconspicuously lost inside the store, and circles to Sungyoon’s other side. 

“The animals love him.”

_ And all the part timers,  _ Jangjun adds drily in his head. _ And the customers. Wait _ \-  _ do glamours work on hamsters? _

Jangjun shakes the sudden, ridiculous question away as he watches Sungyoon bob his head around, copying a bright green parrot- one of Jangjun’s favourite pets in the store, because it’s one of the only things that talks back to him as much as he talks to it. Sungyoon startles a little as the bird squawks at him, taken aback by the volume of the cry, and Jangjun laughs.

“Give me a moment, would you?”

He ventures closer to the entrance, following an aisle stacked full of cat food to the tills, where a bored looking part timer leans against the counter, both eyes on her phone screen.

She recognises him, even before he teasingly points out the ‘employee of the month’ poster stuck to a bulletin behind her, where his photo and name are taped up for all to see, and surrenders a set of keys without comment, rolling her eyes as he salutes her.

Sungyoon steps away as he unlocks the bird enclosure, the sour scent returning in one fearful spike, but Jangjun shushes the parrot calmly, and holds his arm out, showing it to Sungyoon when the bird has settled more calmly onto the sleeve of his dark jacket.

“He’s friendly,” he says, and Sungyoon grins at him, looking embarrassed, as he steps closer again.

The bird screeches happily at him as Sungyoon runs a finger along its stomach.

Sungyoon giggles, scrunching his nose up in delight. “Cute,” he says, as the parrot stamps its feet up and down in a strange little dance.

“Yeah,” Jangjun says, not looking at the bird.

“Hey,” a smooth voice says behind them. They both turn to see Joochan holding the snowy white rabbit in the air, glancing between it and Sungyoon with narrowed eyes. “Has anyone ever told you you look like a rabbit?”

“Um- actually, ye-”

“Stop holding it like that,” Jangjun scolds, turning to shepherd the parrot back into its cage, and Joochan settles the ball of snowy fur into his arms more comfortably with a swift apology.

His return has made Sungyoon skittish again. Jangjun already knows what he’s going to say, as the boy steps away from the enclosures and scratches at the back of his neck.

“I, uh, I should actually-” he points in the direction of the exit. “It’s getting late, the others might worry-”

“Sure,” Jangjun says, ignoring the funny feeling in his stomach, trying not to glare too much at Joochan. “You’re welcome back whenever you want,” he adds, as Sungyoon hovers. “I think the animals like you.”

“Um,” Sungyoon says. “Yeah, yeah that sounds fun.”

“He works weekends,” Joochan supplies helpfully, though Sungyoon just nods, already knowing this.

“See you later, then.”

Both of them wave goodbye, after he’s refused both offers to walk him back to campus, and Jangjun sighs and turns on his heels to find Joochan staring down at the rabbit gnawing at his blazer sleeve with immersed, loving eyes.

“D’you think I could take this one home with me?”

“You’ve never wanted a pet before,” Jangjun says, irritably, crossing his arms.

Joochan ignores him and continues to stare down at the bunny in his arms. Janjgun glares only a moment longer, before he reaches out to stroke the soft fur, and sighs.

“It really does look like him,” he admits.


	11. Final Introductions

Sunday morning. Track.

Sungyoon’s jumping on the spot as the others stretch, trying to fight off the cold that’s begun to seep into the autumn air, trying not to cast his eyes around the field too often. He’d thought he’d always been aware of Jangjun’s absence, in the few meetings he’d been to, but now that he’d heard about it from Jangjun himself, now he knows the reason he never shows, he’s _really_ aware of it, in a way he hadn’t quite been before. 

He wins the warmup race, and then wins another. He comes second in the last- too distracted. He can’t focus. 

His feet carry him there before he can even think enough to change his mind- he’s at the pet shop Jangjun had shown him on friday in record time, frozen through to the bone, regretting not stopping at his dorm to get a heavier jacket or a scarf, fingers red and sore with the cold as he pushes through the door and hears the bell chirp happily above him.

“Good morning!” someone says, an unfamiliar voice, just as happy for his arrival as the little bell above the door, and Sungyoon nods awkwardly at the younger girl who’s busy stacking cat food onto a shelf.

She smiles at him beautifically. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

He hadn't thought this far ahead. Wincing, but unable to think of another excuse for his being here, Sungyoon admits, “Um, actually, I'm here to see-”

A sudden eruption of noise makes him jump, cutting off his sentence, as the dogs in cages by the window start to bark and growl. Jangjun’s emerging from the other end of an aisle, arms stacked with the same humongous packages the other part timer is manipulating onto shelves, and the dogs follow him as best they can as he passes, yapping.

Strange. They'd been quiet when Sungyoon walked past them. They must like him.

Jangjun, not noticing Sungyoon yet, stops by the cages, dipping a little to be on level with the dogs, and surprises Sungyoon by yapping back at them, talking softly, and suddenly the noise stops, and he straightens. Sungyoon looks away just as he starts to turn, hearing Jangjun's noise of surprise a moment later, when he's spotted. 

"You were looking for someone?" the part timer prompts, and Jangjun looks from her to Sungyoon with sudden interest.

“Me, I hope.”

As Sungyoon nods and wonders what to say, and whether this had been a bad idea, and whether he seems eager or strange to revisit so quickly when Jangjun’s offer had really only been for emergencies, if he needed anything, Janjgun carefully sets the bags of food down beside his coworker, who thanks him with a smile as he straightens and looks Sungyoon over curiously.

“Good morning,” he says.

Sungyoon sniffs, grateful at least that the shop is warmer than the icy streets outside. “Hi.”

Jangjun huffs a strange breathy laugh, as if Sungyoon had just said something funny, as if he’d tried to stop himself laughing at the last moment, but failed.

“You look frozen,” he says, the laugh not quite hidden in his words, and reaches forward. Sungyoon stills, but Jangjun only pokes the end of his nose with a gentle fingertip, laughing more loudly when Sungyoon scrunches it up in surprise.

“Are you here to adopt a certain loud-mouthed bird?” Jangjun asks, stepping out of the aisle and starting toward the enclosures. “He must be missing you.”

Sungyoon laughs, catching a glimpse of the aforementioned, bright-feathered parrot in his cage, bobbing up and down as he sees them approaching.

“Maybe next time.”

Jangjun makes an exaggerated sound of disappointment and clucks his tongue at the bird. “Maybe next time, he says.”

The parrot squawks at him, loud enough for Sungyoon to flinch guiltily, and Jangjun steps away from the enclosure, crossing his arms.

“What can I do for you?” he asks.

“I just-” 

_Just what?_ Sungyoon thinks desperately. _Missed you at track? Wanted to see you?_

“I see,” Jangjun says, before he can settle on an appropriate answer. “You’re not here for the animals?”

Sungyoon can feel his face heating up. “I don’t think Donghyun would appreciate me bringing a pet home with me.”

“No,” Jangjun laughs, obligingly. “You’re probably right.”

When Sungyoon shuffles, uncertain of what to say, he smiles, and drifts over to the other enclosures.

“Joochan’s quite enamoured with this one now,” he says, as they stop by the rabbit enclosure and Sungyoon crouches to be eye-to-eye with a certain snowy white bunny. “He kept saying it looked like you.”

Sungyoon tilts his head as if trying to see the resemblance, only strengthening the connection in Jangjun’s mind, as the rabbit tilts its head, too.

There’s a crash from further in the store, and then a high, incredulous voice.

“Jae, for the last time!”

Jangjun winces. Sungyoon’s head had turned quickly towards the sound, and now he blinks up at him, confused, as if he hadn’t quite believed his ears.

“Is that-?”

With a sigh, Jangjun uncrosses his arms and storms further into the store. Startled, Sungyoon gets to his feet, and follows.

“Where the hell _are_ you two?” Jangjun calls, somewhere ahead, walking through the winding aisles.

“By the tanks!” the same voice says, now undoubtedly Jibeom’s, as Sungyoon rounds the end of an aisle and sees two figures in front of a wall of fish tanks, one scarlet-haired and standing over another, crouching figure, who’s staring into a bottom row tank with wide eyes.

“I told you not to let him near the-”

“Sungyoon!” Jibeom cries, the usual excitement in his voice when he says his name sharpened into something closer to panic. 

“I didn’t know you were here,” Sungyoon says, wondering why Jangjun hadn’t mentioned them before, and Jibeom slaps the crouching boy on the back and tugs at his collar, laughing a jolting, insincere kind of laugh.

“We were just visiting- to keep Jun company, you know.”

The other boy spots Sungyoon and scrambles to his feet, and a lock of orange hair falls into his eyes. He has a small, round face, seeming too small for the huge orbs of his eyes. He’s clinging to Jibeom’s arm, half hidden behind him, the small, shy smile on his lips only adding to the youthfulness of his features, and Jibeom gives Sungyoon an almost apologetic smile as he tries unsuccessfully to pry the boy from his side.

“I don’t think you’ve met Jaehyun, yet,” he says, and Jangjun sighs. There’s a broom in his hand now, as he sweeps angrily at a few shards of glass below him, a broken fish bowl that must have toppled from a shelf- the source of the crashing. 

Jibeom grimaces, but Jaehyun just keeps staring wide-eyed at Sungyoon, without speaking, swinging Jibeom’s arm gently as he leans against it.

“You’re Jangjun’s flatmate?”

“Yeah,” Jaehyun nods. His voice is husky, soft, and he bats the hair from his eyes with anxious fingers, shuffling his weight. The orange of his hair isn’t as bright as Joochan’s coppery shade, more a warm almost-brown, and Sungyoon is strangely reminded of the tabby who’s started escorting him to class, following him around campus, and has to swallow a laugh.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, it’s- well, he just reminded me of someone.”

Jibeom finally manages to extract his arm and step away- Jaehyun doesn’t even seem to notice the detachment, still smiling at Sungyoon dreamily. Sungyoon grins back as best he can, a little uncertain, unconscious of the fact that he’d stepped closer to Jangjun until the dark haired boy is nudging his side with an elbow.

“You alright?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

Jangjun seems unconvinced, but then he turns to the others and his eyes snag on Jaehyun. “Stop staring,” he scolds- it seems like it’s something he says often, to the strange orange haired boy, judging by his exasperation, Jibeom’s knowing laugh, Jaehyun’s unhappy sniff as he glances once more at Sungyoon and then turns to watch at the fish again.

Broom-less, Jangjun reemerges from a door set into the wall by the tanks that Sungyoon hadn’t noticed until now. It must be a storage room. He looks stressed.

“Actually,” Sungyoon says, slowly, thinking as he speaks, trying not to wince as Jangjun’s eyes find him so sharply, “I was thinking...should I feed that cat that keeps following me?”

Jangjun blinks at him as if he’s trying to figure out if he’d misheard. “What?”

“The campus cat. He follows me around all the time now, and I don’t really know what to feed him-”

“This way.”

He’d expected Jangjun to make fun of him, maybe tell him not to give food to the little fleabag, or something as equally dry and cynical, but there’s a strange haste to his step as he leads Sungyoon away from the others now, and Sungyoon follows him at a quick pace and still almost loses him.

“Here,” Jangjun breathes, at the end of their chase, back at the front of the store where the other employee had been stacking shelves. “What kind of thing did you want?”

“I, um…”

Jangjun waits another moment, hands clasped behind his back, but when he realises Sungyoon isn’t going to say anything he laughs, and crouches by the bottom shelf.

“Alright. I’m guessing you’ve never had pets before, so...how about this?”

He heaves a bag from the shelf and straightens, showing Sungyoon the front of it, where he can understand nothing but the picture of a happy-looking cat and the word ‘nutritious.’

“I’ll trust the expert,” he shrugs, and Jangjun shakes his head, even though he’s smiling. Sungyoon moves to take the bag from him, but the dark haired boy is already turning on his heels, and leading them to the till.

“That damn tabby cat,” he mutters. “What did the little troublemaker do to deserve all of this effort?”

“He’s sweet,” Sungyoon laughs, eyeing the derisive look on Jangjun’s face with amusement. “He walks me to all of my classes now.”

Jangjun rolls his eyes. “He does, does he.”

He drops the cat food onto the counter and Sungyoon jolts at the sound of it, thunderous as it hits the wooden surface, though Jangjun’s already punching numbers into the till without reaction.

For a horrible moment, Sungyoon thinks he might have left his wallet in the dorm, but then he pats one of his pockets and finds it, trying not to swoon too obviously with relief as he pulls it out. He _had_ thought about what he could feed the tabby, as it had pawed at his ankles and purred up at him between classes, but when he’d started out for the pet shop this hadn’t exactly been his plan.

“How much?”

Jangjun waves a hand through the air. “Don’t bother.”

“But-”

“Consider it an apology,” Jangjun says, talking before Sungyoon can even argue, voice raised but calm, a tight smile on his lips. “For whatever it was that Joochan did when I was away.”

“Why would _you_ apologise?”

Jangjun shrugs, though his expression seems just shy of being convincingly nonchalant. Sungyoon wonders what kind of argument _he’d_ had with Joochan since his return and grimaces.

“It was me who asked him to look out for you,” Jangjun reasons. “And I don’t think you really want to talk to him, so, I guess _someone_ should apologise.”

“You don’t have to do that," Sungyoon says. 

Jangjun hardly seems to hear him. “It’s nothing.”

It doesn't look like he'll take any argument. Sungyoon looks down at the bag hesitantly. “You _were_ quite mean to the tabby,” he says, pleased as Jangjun’s frown turns up into an amused grin.

“I meant it,” he says. He taps the bag of food and adds, “This doesn’t change anything, I am _not_ apologising to the cat.”

“What did the poor thing ever do to you?”

Jangjun thinks about all of the times he’d wandered to the back of the shop to see Jaehyun with his face pressed up against a fish tank, pupils blown wide, Jibeom at his side inching closer and closer anxiously, all of the times Jaehyun had trailed mud through the house, scratched his arms raw, pulled at loose strings of his sweaters until entire sleeves unfurled.

“You’d be surprised,” he says drily.

Sungyoon frowns, but before he can say anything, Jibeom is stepping up to the counter and dragging Jaehyun behind him, looking haggard.

“We’d best be going,” he says, and then glances down at the counter, where Sungyoon had been sliding the enormous bag of food toward himself. “Oh?”

“For that stupid tabby,” Jangjun says, rolling his eyes.

Jibeom lets go of Jaehyun’s wrist to grab the bag before Sungyoon can properly lift it. “Are you sure you want to do that? He already trails after you so often. If you feed him, you’ll never get rid of him.”

Unbothered by this concept, Sungyoon shrugs. “I like him.”

Jaehyun gives an airy little giggle that for some reason has Jibeom glaring at him. There must be a joke there that Sungyoon doesn’t know about.

Jibeom hoists the bag of cat food further up his chest and hugs it with both arms. He juts his chin toward the exit. “Coming?”

Sungyoon takes an instinctive step away from the counter as if caught doing something he shouldn’t. “Right. Yeah.”

The redhead nods, then looks past him to the boy at the till. “You haven’t forgotten about tonight?”

He'd started wiping down the counter, as if already started ignoring the rest of them, but now Jangjun huffs an exasperated sigh and shakes his head. “No, Ji, I haven’t forgotten.”

“Tonight?” Sungyoon wonders. He hadn't entirely meant to say it aloud.

Jaehyun sways on his feet and says softly, “We’re going out for sushi,” as if sharing a secret, a childish excitement in his eyes.

“You should go with them,” Jibeom says immediately. When Sungyoon’s eyes flicker up to his, surprised, he gives a small, innocent smile, and raises a brow. "You don't like seafood?"

“No, I do, I just don’t-” a glance at Jangjun shows him watching closely, and Sungyoon looks away just as fast. “I don’t want to impose.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Jangjun says, and Jaehyun nods his agreement. “Really, you’d be saving me. Taking Youngtaek and Jaehyun out by myself is like babysitting toddlers. Twin toddlers that are _really_ high on sugar.”

Sungyoon gulps and looks at Jibeom for help, before realising the redhead had said ‘them’ and not ‘us’. “You’re not going?”

“I have a date with Daeyeol,” the druid shrugs. Jangjun would be impressed at how quickly he’d thought of the lie if he wasn’t so annoyed at how easily he gets himself off of the hook. Jibeom _had_ been planning on going too, but now that Sungyoon would be there, his not eating would raise too much suspicion. Which lands Jangjun with Jaehyun and Taek by himself. And now a human he has to lie to.

Sungyoon hovers uncertainly. “Oh, then-”

“Come,” Jangjun says, sensing that he’s trying to get out of it. The idea that Sungyoon can’t be comfortable with them without Jibeom around irks him more than it probably should, annoys him more than the prospect of this disastrous dinner. “You’d be doing me a favour.”

“Our treat,” Jaehyun adds. He gives Sungyoon that same shy, dreamy smile.

With them all looking at him, Sungyoon can’t think of a good enough excuse to get out of it, and certainly no excuse that couldn’t be disproved by Donghyun, who knows very well Sungyoon’s real plans for the evening had been takeout pizza and maybe a terrible movie they could find online, and there are too many people saying he should go that he really can’t just reject them all. So he nods, and says he’ll go, and then worries about it the entire walk back to campus.


	12. Comfortable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> am i aware of the fact that jaehyun doesnt actually eat seafood? yes. did i chose to ignore this because i made him a shifter? yes, yes i did.

Donghyun blinks at him expressionlessly. “Sushi?”

“With Youngtaek and Jaehyun. Jangjun wanted another person to go with them, so…” he shrugs, trying not to seem too desperate as he continues sifting through his closet. He can feel Donghyun’s eyes on his back from where the other boy’s perched on his bed.

“He invited you?” Donghyun asks. For some reason, he sounds doubtful.

Which Sungyoon guesses makes sense, because- “Well, technically Jibeom invited me, but then Jangjun did too. Jibeom’s not actually going to be there.” 

He drags a white sweater from a hanger and pulls it on over his shirt. He’s too self-conscious to look in the mirror for long, lest Donghyun pick up on his unease, but he pretends to be fixing his collar for a second, just long enough to run his eyes over his reflection and regret it. He’s being stupid. It’s just dinner with friends. His complete lack of experience with situations like this means he’s hopelessly nervous, all the same.

“So this means you’re blowing off pizza night?”

Sungyoon winces. Donghyun sighs extensively.

“You know without you, there’s no way the others will let me order pizza.”

“You could come with me?” Sungyoon offers- begs. “Jangjun won’t mind.” 

He’s not really sure if this is true, but they seem to like each other well enough, the few times he’s seen the two of them together, and Donghyun considers this with his head tipped to the side, and then nods.

“No,” he agrees, “I don't think he would. But Seungmin?” He laughs, in answer to his own question, and shakes his head.

There’s a short silence as Sungyoon steps up to the jewellery box on his desk. Picking out a few rings and a necklace and pretending to be more interested in them than the answer, he asks, “What’s up with that, anyway?”

Donghyun, tapping at his phone screen, doesn’t even look up. “What?”

“Seungmin and Jangjun,” Sungyoon says, conscious of sounding more interested than he’d wanted to. He shrugs even though Donghyun probably can’t see it. “Seungmin doesn’t seem particularly fond of him.”

Donghyun snorts. “That’s putting it nicely.”

“So what happened?”

This get’s his attention- finally looking away from his phone, Donghyun makes a motion like locking his lips together and throwing the key away.

Sungyoon huffs. “You’re kidding.”

“Nu-uh.”

“You really won’t tell me?”

Unapologetically, Donghyun shrugs. “People only tell me their secrets ‘cause they know I’ll never tell them.”

“Is that so?”

“Yup,” Donghyun smiles, wolfish and sly. “Got any secrets for me?”

Sungyoon laughs and throws a shirt he’d discarded on his desk chair in Donghyun’s face.

He agrees to come, after some more desperate badgering on Sungyoon’s part, and leaves to change his shirt, coming back in a casual blazer and ripped jeans, necklaces gleaming gold against the stripes of his shirt.

“Where are we meeting them?”

“At the house.”

Donghyun peers at him, frowning. “The house?”

Unsure of what’s causing the confusion, Sungyoon nods. “Jangjun’s house.”

“You’re joking, right?”

The look on his face is slightly bewildering- Sungyoon starts to shake his head, and then stops, because of how wide Donghyun’s eyes get. “Why-why would I be joking?”

"It took me six months before they let me through the front door, Sungyoon.”

Sungyoon gapes at him. “ What? _Why_?”

A quiet, strangled noise comes out of Donghyun’s mouth as he struggles for the words. “I- guess they’re pretty territorial? Jangjun in particular.”

“It’s not as if I’m staying,” Sungyoon reasons, throwing up his hands in surrender, quite subconsciously. “It’s just because I didn’t know where the sushi place was!”

“Jangjun told you their address but couldn’t tell you where the sushi place was?” Donghyun asks, raising a brow.

Huh. He hadn't actually thought about it like that. Sungyoon scratches the back of his neck, and tries, “Their house was closer?”

Donghyun just stares at him.

“Please don’t make this a big deal,” Sungyoon pleads.

After an anxious beat of silence, Donghyun laughs, and shakes his head. “Alright. Alright, I won’t say anything.” When Sungyoon looks at him dubiously, he laughs again and repeats the locking motion over his lips, and gets to his feet.

“When did you say you’d be there?”

“Six.”

Donghyun glances at his phone. “Then we better start walking.”

“Thank you for coming with me.”

Donghyun shrugs and steps out of the bedroom, waiting for Sungyoon to follow him into the hall. “Don’t thank me. You owe me a pizza night.”

Sungyoon nods gravely as he shrugs on a jacket. “Of course.”

Shaking his head fondly, Donghyun starts through the hallway and leads the way.

The house isn’t exactly what Sungyoon had been expecting, not the rundown, tiny off-campus accommodation he’d been imagining whenever it had been mentioned. It’s all warm-tone brick, on the outside, a decent size, but the garden's the thing that really surprises him. There are painted shutters on the windows, yellow flowers in the window boxes, the grass an almost artificial-looking green. There’s a willow tree in the back garden so big it’s visible even from the front of the house, as they walk up the drive, and most of the lights inside are on, glowing orange warmth onto the darkening street. Ivy climbs up the wall by the front door- Donghyun doesn’t even bother knocking, stepping inside as if the house was his own and giving Sungyoon no choice but to follow, closing the door carefully behind him.

“We’re here!” Donghyun sings, and Sungyoon steps into a living room just in time to see Jangjun poke his head around a door in its farthest wall.

“ _We_?”

“I’m inviting myself,” Donghyun informs him through a smile, throwing himself down onto a sofa- Bomin, perched on the other end, startles as he looks up from a heavy tome balanced in his lap, as if just now realising they have visitors.

Jangjun tuts, disappears for a moment, and then walks properly into the room. The door that swings shut behind him reveals a passing glimpse of their kitchen, in black and white monochrome, though the living room is far more colorful. The walls are a warm coffee-brown, the sofas and armchair mismatched and worn, lived-in, in blues and oranges that somehow don’t look clustered, because of the comfortableness of the room, and a coffee table and Tv take up the rest of the available space. Jaehyun’s curled on the floor, back to the edge of a sofa, smiling up at Sungyoon- Jangjun rolls his eyes and scuffs the top of his head as he passes. Jaehyun yelps, and looks down at his lap grumpily.

Donghyun glances up at Sungyoon lingering by the door. “You’re ready to go?” he asks the others.

Jaehyun nods, but Jangjun shrugs. “I haven’t saw Youngtaek all day.”

“Holed up in his room again,” Bomin mutters, shaking his head, not looking up from his page.

Donghyun laughs and kicks himself off of the sofa. “I’ll go.”

He’s only been gone for a few moments before there’s a boom from the upper floor, and everyone in the living room jumps several feet into the air- except Bomin, who for some reason doesn’t so much as gasp.

Sungyoon stares around the room at the sudden calm that had fallen almost immediately after the noise had stopped. “Wha-is something wrong?”

Jangjun sighs. “It’s just Taek, he’s-” his eyes cast around the room “-hes, um-”

“-a chemistry major,” Bomin adds, somehow making it sound like a question.

“Yes,” Jangjun says decisively. “Chemistry.”

“Always experimenting,” Bomin laughs.

Jaehyun nods along, looking up at the others. “Always.”

As Sungyoon nods and tries not to feel too out of place, and they all stare at him and make that impossible, a short silence descends, and Jangjun has just opened his mouth to break it when voices begin floating toward the living room from the second floor.

“For food!” Donghyun’s saying, and then there’s the sound of footsteps on the stairs, halting, as he looks back at Youngtaek behind him.

“I’m not hungry-”

“Too bad!” Donghyun cries, and the footsteps start again with more scuffling. “We’re going for sushi.”

In the living room, Jaehyun is getting to his feet, and Jangjun sighs, and gestures for Sungyoon to walk through the door again.

“Have a nice night,” Bomin calls after him, but Jangjun is herding them all out of the living room and into the hallway, and Sungyoon doesn't have time to respond.

The wide-eyed boy he’d met at lunch once is being dragged through the front door with much noisy protesting, Donghyun’s laughter mixing with his cries as he clings to the doorframe- Jangjun clears his throat loudly in the living room doorway, and they both quiet down.

“Stop pulling him,” he says to Donghyun, and then, with a more pointed look to Youngtaek, “Put your shoes on. Whatever you were trying to blow the house up with, it can wait an hour or two.”

Both of them obey, and Jaehyun grabs a grey jacket from the mass of fabric hanging by the door and ducks out into the street, Donghyun immediately slinging an arm over his shoulders. Sungyoon steps out into the cool evening air and turns back to look through the doorway.

“We made plans for dinner, remember?” Jangjun’s saying, as Youngtaek shuffling on his shoes, and the other boy mutters something Sungyoon can’t catch that makes Jangjun sigh at him. He selects a jacket from the hooks and wiggles it in the air- Youngtaek, shoed, snatches it out of the air and slumps through the door past Sungyoon.

Jangjun shakes his head and locks the door behind them.

The others- Donghyun and Jaehyun, heads together, swaying happily like drunkards- have already started up the street, and Youngtaek heads toward them, skipping to close the distance, making Jangjun shake his head and sigh again. A little too late, Sungyoon realises this leaves him with Jangjun at the back of the group.

“Bomin didn’t want to come?” he asks, to bring Jangjun out of his thoughts, and the dark-haired boy’s eyes flicker to him from where they’d been glaring at Youngtaek’s back.

“Oh. No, he said he had some work to do.” Another lie- he’s telling a lot of them, these days. He tries not to feel guilty for it. He knows there’s no other way he could have explained Bomin’s absence from mealtime.

“Come on, slow pokes!” Donghyun calls over his shoulder. "If Jae and I get there first, we _will_ eat all of the sushi ourselves!"

Jangjun huffs something close to a laugh, and they speed up.

When they get to the sushi place, there’s a moment of awkward shuffling around the booth as everyone but Jangjun tries to sit next to Sungyoon (who doesn’t seem to notice this civil war at all) and Donghyun ends up shoving Jaehyun off of the bench and slipping into his place. Bruised, Jaehyun glares at him until their food arrives, and then glares some more, until Sungyoon looks across to see him picking all of the seaweed and rice from his food and giggles, as if he finds it endearing, which seems to cheer Jaehyun up pretty quickly.

Jangjun, on the other hand, spends the entire dinner worrying whether Youngtaek’s going to let slip something he shouldn’t, or Sungyoon bring up his entirely made up chemistry major, or Jaehyun purr or dilate his pupils or eat so much raw fish and nothing else that even Sungyoon would get suspicious. Having Donghyun there makes it easier, but only slightly. If there were two people Jangjun knows better than to trust with their ‘human’ facade, it’s Youngtaek and Jaehyun. 

Surprisingly, the dinner ends without a hitch, nothing but some fumbling, awkward answers to some questions that get a little too close to the things they’re trying to hide, one well aimed kick at Donghyun’s leg under the table when he starts telling a story that would have to be _greatly_ altered, and clapping wildly at some pigeons outside the shop when Jangjun walks out first and sees Jaehyun’s pupils blow wild. He refuses to go to all that effort at dinner just for Jaehyun to immediately pounce on a pigeon when they step outside and blow the entire thing.

Sungyoon walks out of the restaurant with Donghyun’s scarf around his neck, a belly full of food, and the feeling that he’d gotten a little closer to the people he’d wanted to be closer to. Donghyun laughs with him on the walk back, occasionally slinging an arm around his shoulders, and Jangjun is in a better mood after dinner, warm and joking and free. He chases Donghyun down an alley after a particularly pointed joke, the two of them play-acting a fight in the darkness, yelling out ridiculous insults and slander, Jangjun stepping back into the light cradling his arm, Donghyun holding his stomach as if he’d been winded. Sungyoon laughs more than he has in a long time, and Youngtaek’s red faced and breathless, clutching Jaehyun’s arm as he giggles.

When they get back to the house, now dark and silent in the late hour, it’s almost difficult to separate, and Sungyoon and Donghyun are quieter on their way back to campus alone, as if mourning the loss of the rest of their party, though the quiet is comfortable and broken now and again with jokes, Donghyun’s scarf still slung around Sungyoon’s neck.

“I’m glad you came with me,” Sungyoon says, fumbling with the lock of their door, and Donghyun smiles at him warmly.

“Me too,” he sighs. And then he adds, “Although you still owe me a pizza night.”

Sungyoon laughs too loud in the silence of the corridor and they giggle, under their breaths, stepping inside their little corner of the dormitories with exaggerated care. Donhyun ducks for the bathroom, and Sungyoon steps down the hall to his bedroom- he’s only taken one step forward before he realises Daeyeol’s light is still on, and in his almost drunken happiness he thinks it’s only polite to say goodnight, maybe suggest going out for food with Seungmin, just the four of them, and he steps up to the door and creaks it open.

“Hey, Dae-”

There are two figures in the room, and neither of them had been paying attention to the sounds in the hallway: Daeyeol, sitting on his desk, leaning closer to another figure, and Jibeom in the desk chair, crimson hair unmistakable even when his face is turned away, and Daeyeol’s teeth are buried in his neck.

Both of them spring apart as Sungyoon drops his keys.


	13. Show and Tell

Jibeom reacts first. He clamps a hand around the wound at his neck.

“Yoon, wait, I can explain-”

Before he can even think of anything to say, Sungyoon’s reaching for the door handle, eyes wide and face unnaturally blank, a slight tremor in his fingers as he finds the handle and starts to take one small, shaky step backwards. 

There’s a disruption in the air beside Jibeom.

“Don’t!”

But when Sungyoon turns, Daeyeol’s already behind him. 

Sungyoon freezes, arms up by his chest. It had been a split second, barely between one blink and the next, but Daeyeol’s there, standing in the hallway and blocking his path. He’d been by the desk, and then he'd disappeared.

“I can’t let you leave, Sungyoon.”

_“What?”_

The chair squeals as Jibeom rushes to his feet. “Daeyeol wait, we should-”

Daeyeol cuts easily across him, “Everything’s going to be fine.” His eyes are focused intently on Sungyoon’s. “I need you to tell me exactly what you just saw.”

Sungyoon shakes his head. “What are you talking about?” He glances over his shoulder, but Jibeom’s expression is just as grave- he’s pale, still as a statue as Sungyoon gapes at him. “What’s wrong with the two of you?”

Jibeom raises his palms placating in the air. “Yoon-”

“Jesus, Beom, your neck!”

His fingertips are stained red, and blood drips from a spot just above his collarbone. Jibeom slaps a hand over the wound just as fast.

“It’s alright-”

“It’s clearly _not_ alright!” Sungyoon cries, fear almost forgotten as he storms back into the room. He takes Jibeom by the shoulders, trying to peer closer at the cut, dragging Jibeom's hand away. The wound's shallow, from what he can tell before Jibeom covers it again, but his stomach twists angrily just the same, and he spins, turning on someone else. “What did you do to him?”

Daeyeol frowns. “If you’ll just allow me to explain-”

“Explain _what_ , psycho? You hurt him!”

He slides in front of Jibeom, but the red haired boy pushes him gently aside again, shaking his head. “Sungyoon, don’t, I’m fine, really.”

“You’re bleeding,” Sungyoon urges. “What did he _do_ to you?”

Daeyeol’s jaw tightens. He steps back into the room and slams the door behind him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sungyoon draws back. For a second there, it had almost looked like-

“Yeol, you’re scaring him.”

“I’d never hurt him,” Daeyeol says fiercely. “You shouldn’t have been here, you weren’t supposed to see anything.”

But Sungyoon wasn’t imagining it- the color had strengthened with Daeyeol's anger, and with every word the red of his eyes glows brighter. Now Sungyoon trips over himself stepping away, Daeyeol’s eyes an unmistakably bright crimson as they stare down at him.

_You weren’t supposed to see anything._

Hadn't he been thinking just a few days before that they were acting strangely? That they were keeping things from him? How quickly he’d forgotten his wariness, how quickly it all rushes back to greet him, stronger than ever.

“What’s going on?” His hands slowly rise to cradle his head- though he doesn’t mean to say it aloud, his voice whispers free anyway, as shaky as his fingers, breathless with disbelief. “What’s going on?”

Jibeom takes a step toward him and then stops when he flinches away. “Sungyoon we can explain, please.”

There’s a red tint to Daeyeol’s lips as he steps closer, arms raised but not daring to touch him, as if not to startle an animal. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. We can figure this out together, Yoon, take a breath.”

_Am I dreaming? This has to be a dream._

But he pinches his arm, and it’s all the same: Daeyeol’s eyes are darkening above him, his skin so pale under the dim flourescents of his bedroom. 

His voice doesn’t sound so calm anymore. “Sungyoon, I know you must be confused-”

“Yeol?” It’s another voice, from the hallway, Donghyun’s voice. He must have stepped out of the bathroom and saw Daeyeol’s light still on. “Is something wrong?”

The handle turns- Daeyeol steps aside as the door opens, just enough for Donghyun to see past him to Jibeom’s frazzled panic, the bright red mark at his neck, and then to Sungyoon, hands hanging in the air by his head as if he were going to cover his ears, eyes impossibly wide. The air has a sour, acidic taste to it. Fear.

Sungyoon doesn’t take his eyes from Daeyeol even as Donghyun puts together what happened and curses, the whisper loud in the dead silence of the corridor. He turns down the hall.

“I need to wake Seungmin.”

Sungyoon stares after him desperately. The euphoria he’d been feeling when they’d stepped into their dormitory has shattered, and in its place is confusion, wariness, the startings of fear, and Sungyoon’s disorientated with it all, how quickly things had changed.

“Sungyoon,” Daeyeol says, deep voice level, “we need you to calm down for a second.”

He gives Sungyoon a gentle smile that wavers only for a moment, that might be a comfort if it weren’t for the crimson still cloying to his lips. 

Sungyoon rushes backwards so quickly he stumbles and has to catch himself on a pale bedroom wall.

“What the _hell_ is going on here? What’s wrong with all of you?” He’s backed himself into a corner, arms flat against the wall either side of him, and Jibeom hesitates in stepping closer.

"I know this is a lot to take in-”

“Stay away from me,” Sungyoon hisses, and hurt flashes across Jibeom’s face. He glances at Daeyeol helplessly- footsteps approach from the hall.

Seungmin steps into the doorway with a stormy expression, but it softens into neutrality as soon as he spots Sungyoon, a professional detachment calming his voice as he steps into the room with Donghyun on his heels and says, “OK. OK, so he found out a little sooner than we might have wanted, but there's nothing to be done now. We’re just going to have to deal with this.”

Sungyoon repeats, “ _Found out?”_

“What did you see, Sungyoon?” Seungmin asks.

“I saw Daeyeol _biting_ him,” he says, sounding desperate and breathless to his own ears, unable to stop the rush of words now he’s begun. “And Jibeom was bleeding and then Daeyeol was behind me and his eyes were glowing and there’s blood on his lips-”

Seungmin glances up at Daeyeol and pulls a kerchief from somewhere. “No wonder he’s frightened,” he sighs, and Daeyeol lowers his head as he wipes the red from his mouth. “What must he be thinking?”

“I don’t know _what_ to think,” Sungyoon says, and worse than the panic is the regret in his voice, the betrayal as he stares between them all, back against the wall. 

“Then I’d better tell you,” Seungmin muses. Somehow his nonchalance is reassuring, almost, how he’s acting as if nothing is wrong despite the tension hanging in the air. 

“Min,” Donghyun says under his breath, cautious. “Don’t you think it might be too dangerous-”

“For who?” Seungmin asks. “Us or him?”

“Both,” Jibeom mumbles, brows drawn together, glancing uncertainly at Sungyoon. Seungmin waves a hand through the air.

“Nonsense, he’ll be fine. He can handle a little shock.” 

“And what about _us?”_ Daeyeol says uncertainly.

“ _We_ ," Seungmin says, with a pointed look in Donghyun's direction, "ought to relax. This isn’t as serious as you’re making it out to be. Even if we tell him, there are plenty of ways to un-tell him, if we need to.”

Several glances are exchanged as the others hesitate- Seungmin shrugs again, arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe, looking as if he might start whistling, as if they were talking about something as simple and mundane as the weather. The rest are more cautious. Donghyun puts his head in his hands- Jibeom shakes his head in disbelief. 

After what feels like an age, Daeyeol clears his throat. His eyes find Sungyoon's falteringly. "What do you want to know?"

"What I walked in on."

Daeyeol's lip quirks. “Supper,” he says, almost humorously, with the air of someone resigning themselves to the ridiculousness of explaining the impossible. “You were gone so long we thought you had both decided to stay at Ji's house for the night. We didn’t think you’d just _walk in-”_

“We didn’t mean to frighten you,” Jibeom insists. “And he didn’t hurt me, I let him!”

Sungyoon stares at him. Some color’s back in Jibeom’s cheeks, the wound on his neck has stopped trickling blood, but though he’s still wide eyed and he's almost as shaky as Sungyoon, his eyes are insistent, pleading- sincere.

“Why- why on earth would you do that?”

A series of strangled noises come out before Jibeom gives up and throws up his hands. “Because he needs to eat, Sungyoon.”

_Eat? Supper? What are they talking about?_

“You’re not making any sense.”

“This is why we should have just told him in the first place,” Seungmin says, a hint or irritation showing through his calm, his glare directed at Jibeom short, but scalding. “He was going to find out eventually, there's no way to hide things like this for long.”

“Well we should find some way to explain before he starts throwing things,” Donghyun grumbles, gesturing to where Sungyoon stands in the corner, hands fisted at his side.

“Yes,” Sungyoon says, “yeah, I think an explanation’s long overdue.”

They all look at Daeyeol. He hesitates.

Seungmin uncrosses his arms with a sigh. “It’s done now, come on,” he prompts, not unkindly. “Just get it over with so we know how he’ll react.”

“I think I can guess,” Daeyeol mutters, but he steps forward anyway, and his dark eyes find Sungyoon. “OK, it’s going to sound crazy if i say it, and there's no way you'll believe me, so I’ll just...show you...I guess.”

Sungyoon pushes himself slightly away from the wall.

Daeyeol’s eyes flicker between his. He sighs and wipes a hand over his face. “Alright.” 

It’s not exactly where Sungyoon thought he would begin- he almost draws away again as Daeyeol opens his mouth, gives him an uncertain smile. It takes him a moment to notice what he’s supposed to be seeing, when the rest of the image is so normal, but then he does notice. The top row of Daeyeol’s teeth are straight and perfectly white, but the canines are-

“You’re kidding.”

Daeyeol almost laughs, though there’s not much humour to the sound. “Surprise?”

Sungyoon shakes his head as if he doesn’t understand, although of course he does, of course he sees what this has to do with what he’d walked in on, how it links to the red smeared on Jibeom’s neck, even if he can't believe it yet.

“You’ve never wondered why we don’t eat with you?" Jibeom asks softly. "Why we keep making excuses?”

Of course he had. Even tonight, Bomin and Jibeom had both had an excuse ready. Of course he’d noticed. But he doesn’t say anything, just shakes his head.

Daeyeol’s raising a hand up to his mouth- Sungyoon almost tells him not to, as he realises what he’s about to do, but a part of him wants to see how far they’ll go with this stupid charade, so he doesn’t, just watches as Daeyeol’s teeth close around the soft flesh of his palm. His eyes are red again, glowing crimson, and he tears one canine down in a line from the knuckle of his thumb to his wrist, grimacing. When he lowers his hand, his lips are stained red.

“You’re crazy.”

But he can’t stop staring at the crimson of Daeyeol’s eyes. He’d been so fast to stop him, when Sungyoon had tried to leave the room, in front of him one second and then gone the next. 

And when Sungyoon's eyes drop to Daeyeol's injured hand again, there’s another impossibility to see- the wound closes up, right before his eyes.

“What…”

Daeyeol takes Seungmin’s handkerchief from his pocket and wipes away the blood, but it’s clear even before that that there’s no cut on his palm anymore.

“Tell me you don’t actually want me to believe that you’re some kind of-” it’s so crazy he cuts himself off before he can even finish his sentence, but Daeyeol laughs sadly as if he had.

“I wish I could,” the vampire says.

Sungyoon shakes his head. “I don’t believe you.”

Daeyeol shrugs as if that doesn’t really matter. He half turns to the others in the room. “Anyone else for show and tell?”

“I don’t have much I can show here,” Donghyun says, "unless we _really_ want him to lose his mind." And that’s when the tiny potted plant on Daeyeol’s desk catches fire.

Sungyoon gapes at Donghyun, but Daeyeol screeches, “Jibeom!”

The redhead raises his hands in surrender- the plant fizzles out again.

“That was a gift,” Daeyeol says sadly, pouting.

Jibeom scoffs. “Yeah, from me! And it was dying anyway, you never water it!”

Sungyoon surprises himself by laughing. He points to the still-smoking, charred remains of the plant on Daeyeol’s desk. “You expect me to believe you did that as well?”

“I don’t know what else I can show you, Yoon," Jibeom says, sounding apologetic. "I’m not like Daeyeol, I can’t change myself to help you understand-”

A fresh wave of anger hits Sungyoon square in the chest. It feels a lot like betrayal. “This isn’t funny.”

“That’s because it’s not a _joke_ , Sungyoon,” Jibeom sighs. “You weren’t supposed to know. And when you walked in on us I thought we could just spin some other lie and get out of it but Daeyeol just _had_ to go and race to stop you leaving-”

Daeyeol spins to face him. “So now it’s _my_ fault?” 

_Some other lie?_

_So they_ **_have_ ** _been keeping something from me._

“I don’t see how it could be _my_ fault,” Jibeom’s crying, but Sungyoon laughs again, startling them all, and the argument drops as they all turn to face him.

“What are you supposed to be then?” Sungyoon asks, crossing his arms. “A warlock?”

Jibeom huffs and drops his chin to his chest. “Druid,” he mumbles helplessly, “but good guess, I suppose.”

“What else?" Now that he's started, he can't stop, and a twisted smile has curled Sungyoon's lips, a dry, dark humour in his voice as he asks, "A zombie? Any ghosts? Maybe a few werewolves?”

“Just the one,” Donghyun says. He meets Sungyoon's gaze like a challenge.

Sungyoon shakes his head incredulously. “Show me something else,” he says.

Donghyun doesn't break the gaze. “Will it make you believe us?” A pale blue circles his pupils, filling out his usually dark irises until they're the color of sea holly. They'd changed just like Daeyeol's, almost too quick to se the change.

Now Sungyoon hesitates.

“I...I don’t know.”

It’s stupid, but he hadn’t thought Donghyun would be in on this. Somehow, it makes him want to see more.

Seungmin shrugs. “Alright. There are others things we can show you.”

Donghyun's eyes return to their usual near-black. He looks away.

“Not here," Sungyoon says. "Somewhere else, not your own rooms.”

“No,” Daeyeol says immediately. “We can’t let him leave like this.”

“You’re a vampire, right?” Sungyoon asks. There’s an edge to his voice that makes Daeyeol wince. “If I run, it’s not as if you couldn’t catch me.”

It’s annoying that this seems to persuade them. He’d wanted the logic to break their little prank up, but it doesn’t- Seungmin leads the way out of the dormitory and out into the darkness of the night.

Jibeom comes back to himself a little, amongst the greenery. There’s grass and dirt under his feet and shrubs lining the walkway, a few scattered flowers, and he takes a deep breath that smells of earth, feeling it calm the nervousness in his stomach.

“Alright, I can go.”

“Need some light?” Seungmin asks. Jibeom nods.

Sungyoon, fists shoved stubbornly into the pocket of his jeans, expects Seungmin to bring out his phone, turn on the flashlight, but he doesn’t. Instead, he raises a palm face up in the air, and the streetlight closest to them beams like a spotlight down on their group. 

In the sudden brightness, Sungyoon squints and tries not to be convinced, even if he wants to be.

Jibeom’s crouching down beside where the asphalt gives way to grass, and as Sungyoon watches carefully, he plants both hands in the soil. Mushrooms sprout between his fingers- the grass grows in clumps, shooting upwards, until it brushes his knees, white flowers blooming amongst the tall strands, the same white flowers Sungyoon had noticed in the boxes under their windows, just a few hours prior.

Sungyoon reaches out very slowly and plucks a flower from the earth. It’s warm to his touch, as if it had been laying for hours under a summer sun, and soft and fragile and real.

“How are you doing this?”

Jibeom stands, dusting off his trousers. There are grass stains on his fingertips. 

“Druids work with nature. I can do other things, too, if you still need convincing.”

Sungyoon nods, but he’s not even fooling himself anymore- he knows he wants to see more, but not because he needs it to convince him. It’s a more simple curiosity now, no longer edged with anger, as he glances down and realises the grass is shrinking again, back into the soil, though the mushrooms and the flowers remain.

Jibeom holds a hand out. “Can I have it for a second?”

Sungyoon realises he’s talking about the flower he’s still clutching, and hands it over hastily. Jibeom accepts it with a smile. He mumbles something under his breath, and Sungyoon catches what he thinks might have been Youngtaek’s name, but nothing more. 

Jibeom closes his eyes, and his fingers loosely curl around the flower’s stem, his other hand finding the edge of Sungyoon’s sleeve.

When Jibeom opens his eyes, he gives Sungyoon a shy smile.

“I can turn it back, if you want me to,” he says.

 _Turn what back?_ Sungyoon almost asks, but before he can, Jibeom is unfurling his fingers, and Sungyoon looks down to see the edge of his sweater has been patchily dyed green, and the flower stem is white.

“Leaking colour,” Jibeom says quietly. “Pretty neat, right? It’s how we change the leaves in the fall. I’ve been trying to teach Youngtaek, but-” He stops, and slaps a hand over his mouth.

Seungmin tuts. “We were only supposed to be telling him about _us._ ”

Jibeom curses. “I’m sorry, it just came out-”

“You’re really doing this?” Sungyoon’s voice had been quiet, barely audible, but they all stop and look at him staring down at the flower, eyes round. “This isn’t a trick?”

Donghyun shakes his head, frowning. “We wouldn’t do that to you, Yoon.”

“And we _really_ tried to keep it from you,” Jibeom urges. “But...well…”

“Why?” Sungyoon asks. “Why couldn’t you just have did all of this in the first place?”

Seungmin quirks a brow. “When you hardly knew us? You would never have believed us.”

Daeyeol inclines his head, but then adds, “And we- well, we didn’t know how you would take it. It’s...overwhelming, for some humans.”

_Humans._

Somehow, that does it. How the word had sounded so detached and unfamiliar on Daeyeol’s tongue, after everything they’d shown him that clearly _isn’t_ human, Sungyoon actually starts to believe them.

“This is insane. This can’t be happening.”

“You must have suspected _something,_ ” Donghyun says. “It’s not as if we’re all such great liars.”

“I didn’t think it’d be _this,”_ Sungyoon reasons. “I just thought there was something you weren’t telling me.” Four guilty expressions face him- Seungmin at least seems less apologetic than the others, and it’s easier to look at him. Sungyoon sighs, and Seungmin smiles gently.

"You’re really not kidding, are you?” Sungyoon asks.

Surprisingly, when everyone else starts looking more hopeful, Daeyeol groans and covers his face with his hands. “Oh, God. I’m so dead. Jangjun’s going to kill me.”

Donghyun laughs and scuffs his boot against the asphalt, languidly crunching gravel. “You’re _already_ dead, Yeol.”

Without taking his hands from his face, Daeyeol whines, “I’m going to be deader than dead when he finds out we told you.”

Donghyun peers closely at Sungyoon's expression. There’s shock, of course, and some wariness still remains, though for the most part he seems to be dealing with the surprise very well. “You really believe us?” Donghyun can’t help but ask.

Sungyoon goes to nod, but then another idea hits him. “What’s Joochan?”

Donghyun blinks at him blankly. 

Seungmin frowns. “What? _That's_ what you ask first?” 

Hadn't Sungyoon wondered about this, standing in the music room? How Joochan could have such an effect on everyone, Sungyoon included? He’d never imagine it might be something like this, but still, he’d been wary then, of something he couldn’t understand.

“I _knew_ there was something strange about him.”

Surprised glances pass around the group.

Jibeom gives a strange little nervous laugh, and says, “I thought you’d be more interested in Jangjun.”

The sudden question scares Sungyoon about as much as releasing one of his roommates' feasts on blood and another one’s magic. He laughs too, sounding just as nervous, immediately regretting it. “Why would I be?”

Jibeom shakes his head, shrugging, doing too much at once for any of his nonchalance to be believable. “No reason.”

“I think it would be better if you ask the others yourself,” Seungmin says, holding a hand up to stop the rest of them speaking. There’s pride in the set of his jaw, a stubbornness in his expression that makes it very clear Sungyoon isn’t getting any more information out of them tonight.

The impossible blare of the streetlight dims as Seungmin folds his hands behind his back. “Besides,” he says, “it’s late. You should get some sleep, after the fright we gave you.”

“About that…” Daeyeol looks down at Sungyoon, anxiously gnawing at his lower lip. “Really, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear the door-”

Sungyoon shakes the apology away. Daeyeol still looks guilty as he tries for a reassuring smile. “This is just...going to take some getting used to.”

“I can race you back to the dorm if that helps,” Daeyeol suggests. Surprised, Sungyoon looks up at him, and the older boy’s lip wavers. “It might put things into perspective.”

Sungyoon tries and fails to hold back his own laugh. “Well, what are you standing here for?” He makes a pushing gesture with his hands, and the others laugh- just like that, Daeyeol’s gone. Sungyoon even imagines he can feel a breeze blow past him as the older boy vanishes. He shakes his head, but he’s smiling again, as the tension eases.

Donghyun’s arm is back around his shoulder as they walk home together for the second time that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you watched golcha's mafia dance yet? I kept thinking it was weird how much everyone trusted Donghyun, until I realised that I would undoubtedly trust him just as much 😂😂


	14. Grudges, Secrets, Rumours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... I wasn't planning on updating two days in a row, but I missed them all being together without the drama, so I couldn't help myself 😅😅

Sungyoon has almost convinced himself he’d dreamt everything last night when he steps into the kitchen and finds Daeyeol holding his phone far away from his ear.

It’s on speaker, with Donghyun and Jibeom- who must have spent the night here- crowding around the table listening too, and the voice blasting through the kitchen is quite clearly Jangjun’s.

“What do you mean he _found out_?” Hes’s growling, and Daeyeol looks between the phone and Sungyoon standing by the fridge with an alarmed expression. “Do you know how hard I had to try to stop Youngtaek saying something dumb? I was with him _for hours and he didn’t find out how the hell did you mess up so fast-”_

Donghyun spreads his hands wide despite the fact that Jangjun can’t see him, “We had to tell him!”

Jangjun’s voice rises a few hundred decibels. “You just TOLD HIM?”

The others wince as Sungyoon steps up to the table and snatches the phone, holding it closer to his face. “Stop yelling at them, it was my fault anyway.”

There’s a crash, and then silence.

Quieter, Jangjun says, “Sungyoon?”

Sungyoon hums a yes and there’s a sigh from the other side of the line. “What do you mean, it was _your_ fault?”

“Let’s just say, I walked in on something they couldn’t lie their way out of,” Sungyoon says.

Daeyeol flushes blood red- Jibeom slaps a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

“They can explain later,” Donghyun yells loud enough for Jangjun to hear him. Grinning, he beckons for the phone, and sets it back down in the middle of the table. Sungyoon slides into the seat next to him.

“ _They_ ,” Jangjun repeats. His voice is raspy, as if he’d just woken up, and dark with irritation. “Don’t tell me.”

Daeyeol glares at Donghyun across the table. 

The wolf shrugs. “I’m not taking the fall for you.”

“Daeyeol, if I find out this was your fault after all of the lectures about how careful we should all be I’m going to cut you into tiny little pieces and feed you to-”

Just to interrupt his spiel before Daeyeol actually tries to hide under the table, Sungyoon clears his throat loudly, and asks “Are you going to walk me to class?”

“No,” Jangjun says immediately, but Sungyoon doesn’t even have time to be disappointed or embarrassed before he adds, “you’re staying in the apartment today.”

“What?”

“You’re tired,” Jangjun insists. “You can miss a class or two.”

“I’m fine,” Sungyoon says, though really he’s wondering how Jangjun could know that just from his voice. "I can go to one class."

Jangjun scoffs. “What, are you dying to see Jeonghan or something?”

Actually, Sungyoon had stayed up all night browsing the internet for whatever information he could find on the supernatural and mostly finding crackpot conspiracies that made no sense, and had barely slept an hour. Dragging himself out of bed for breakfast was hard enough- he’d already thought about the idea of dealing with Jeonghan on top of everything else and had wanted to curl back up under his covers. There’s some kind of event going on in the sports department this weekend, and Jeonghan had been even more insufferable since it was mentioned- Sungyoon’s phone has been going off constantly with very persistent invitations to train together, eat together, hang out in a million different ways before the event.

“You’ve seen some things your brain won’t want to believe,” Jangjun says. The kitchen had gone quiet, and his voice is softer, more gentle now. “You need to take some time to rest, make sure you’re really alright.”

Three pairs of concerned eyes land on him, and Sungyoon shakes his head. “Really, I feel fine-”

Jangjun groans. “Sungyoon, if I see you out of your dorm today I'm throwing you over my shoulder and _carrying_ you back to your dorm myself.”

Jibeom whistles- Donghyun makes a few aggressive silencing gestures over the table, seeing Sungyoon is already an alarming shade of pink.

“Really, though,” Jangjun says, and Sungyoon looks down at the blank phone screen, a little alarmed at how serious he sounds. “Are you alright with this? If it’s too much, we wouldn’t hold it against you. If you want to transfer accommodation, they make it very easy here.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Sungyoon says, taken aback. He hadn’t even considered moving.

“You’re sure? You don’t think your flatmates are crazy psychos or something?”

Sungyoon grimaces. He seems to remember calling Daeyeol pretty much exactly that last night- the vampire smiles bashfully at him across the table as if he's remembering that, too.

“I’m fine with my flatmates,” Sungyoon says, leaning closer to the phone, too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye as he says it. “At least now I know they’re too weird to judge me for anything, so, I’m sure I can get used to some quirks.”

There’s an amused sound from the other end of the call as Jangjun almost laughs. “ _Quirks_ is putting it nicely. You’re not scared Daeyeol’s going to sneak into your room and drink your blood while you’re sleeping?”

“I’m hanging up on you now,” Daeyeol says, rolling his eyes. Despite his nonchalance with Jangjun, as soon as he ends the call, he glances up hesitantly at Sungyoon, as if checking his reaction to the joke.

Sungyoon giggles. 

Donghyun smiles at him. “You’re on house arrest, it seems,” he says, grinning wider when Sungyoon glares at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you company.”

Daeyeol narrows his eyes. “Don’t you have a class-”

Shrugging, Donghyun asks, “What’s more important, Yeol, one stupid lecture or emotionally supporting my friend through hard times?”

“Leave them,” Jibeom laughs, as he sees Daeyeol open his mouth to argue. “Seungmin’s free today as well, the three of them will be fine here without us. Come on.”

He slides off of his stool, and pulls Daeyeol with him, ignoring all of the excuses the vampire makes to stay, waving a cheery goodbye at the two boys at the table, and then leaving them in the kitchen by themselves.

Sungyoon wonders how it can all still feel so familiar after all of the things he'd learned and saw last night. How his opinions on them all have changed so little despite the impossible things he knows about them now. If anything, he trusts them more now, now that he knows what it was they were trying to keep from him, the reason for all of their excuses and abrupt subject changes, their strange habits and sudden moments of secrecy. It's strange, and maybe he should be acting more cautious, and maybe he's a madman for even believing them, but he can't explain what he'd saw any other way, and it lines up so well with all of the previous hints that he knows he _does_ believe them. So he shakes his head, smiling, and makes his breakfast, and sits back down beside Donghyun.

“You know…” the other boy says after a while, when Sungyoon’s at the bottom of a bowl of cereal and a comfortable silence had settled, “you’re taking this surprisingly well, considering how strange everything must be for you.”

“It’s kind of-” Sungyoon puts his spoon down, squinting up at the ceiling as he thinks- “it’s kind of relieving, to know what you were all trying to hide. I was beginning to wonder whether it was something bad you didn’t want me to know.”

Donghyun studies his expression gravely. “This isn’t bad?”

But Sungyoon just shrugs, and moves towards the sink. “It doesn’t have to be. I can trust you, can’t I?”

The answer is immediate, clearly instinctive, clearly sincere. “Of course, Yoon.”

Nodding, Sungyoon focuses on the bowl in his hand, sounding strangely casual as he says, “Then I’m sure I can get used to whatever it is you can do.” He switches the faucet off, as a realisation hits him. “You know,” he says, spinning, “you never actually _said_ what you could do.”

“Don’t you know?" Donghyun asks, shrugging. "It’s not as if I’m something complicated. I do what all werewolves do.”

“You turn into a wolf.” Donghyun nods, very slowly, as if this should be obvious.

Sungyoon rubs his eyes. “I need to sit down for this.”

“How much sleep did you get last night?” Donghyun asks, as he follows Sungyoon into his room. “You smell like a livewire.”

Sungyoon, who’d thrown himself onto his bed with alarming abandon as soon as he’d been close enough, stares up at him incredulously. “I _what?”_

The thin chance that Donghyun had been joking goes out the window as Donghyun sniffs, and wrinkles his nose. “Like you’re fizzling. It’s weird.”

Ok, so maybe not _everything's_ the same: Sungyoon guesses he should expect some of these stranger statements as the others start letting their guards down.

So he just scoffs. “ _I’m_ weird? _”_

“Alright,” Donghyun laughs, settling into Sungyoon’s desk chair. “You may have a point.”

Sungyoon props a pillow against the wall and sits back so he can see Donghyun. There’s a moment where he’s speechless, but then Donghyun laughs softly again, and he can’t help but do the same. This isn’t what he’d thought living with flatmates would be like. And he’d been afraid of not having anything to talk about with the people he’d be living with.

“So you can, like, smell...my emotions…”

Donghyun snorts. “It does sound weird when you say it like that.”

Sungyoon raises a brow. “That’s not what it is?”

Relenting with a tip of his head, Donghyun slides further into the desk chair with a sigh. “I mean, I guess. It’s harder with humans than other wolves, but sure, I can pick up on changes to your scent. When you’re tired, when you’re happy. Sometimes it’s hard to place them, but, well, you kinda look like death right now so it was pretty obvious. No offence.”

Sungyoon laughs and shakes his head. “None taken.”

The chair creaks as Donghyun spins in little half circles. He pouts, looking down at his hands in his lap, and quietly asks, “It wasn’t because of us, was it? That you couldn’t sleep.”

 _God, this is embarrassing._ But he doesn’t want Donghyun to feel guilty, so Sungyoon swallows his pride and admits, “Not in the way you’re thinking.” Donghyun looks puzzled, and Sungyoon smiles. “No nightmares. Just…I couldn’t help myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I might have, um, looked up some stuff.”

A slow smile starts to grow on Donghyun’s face. “Tell me you didn’t google vampires.”

Sungyoon groans and covers his face, feeling his cheeks burning up. “Not just vampires.”

Donghyun throws his head back, laughing. “Yoon!” 

“I know it was silly, alright, I just wanted to understand!”

“And you couldn’t just wait until morning to ask us?” Sungyoon pouts, crossing his arms, and he chuckles, relenting. “Alright. What did you find out?”

“Not much,” Sungyoon admits. “It was confusing.”

“Confusing how?”

That’s how they end up squashed together at Sungyoon’s desk, Daeyeol’s desk chair dragged through from his room, browsing through the varying-degrees-of-shady websites Sungyoon had found last night and early in the morning. Donghyun points out the truths hidden amongst the ridiculous rumours and frankly impossible speculations: Sungyoon learns that only certain species of vampire hate the sunlight, that they live longer than humans but are definitely not immortal, and that werewolves actually aren’t vulnerable to silver.

“But nearly every article I looked at said that silver hurts werewolves,” Sungyoon insists, pointing to his laptop screen with the half-eaten chocolate bar in his hand, and Donghyun scoffs, and shakes his head.

“It’s ridiculous. Why would we hate just _one_ type of metal? What could it do to us?”

Sungyoon hums and runs his gaze over the text on his screen, not really reading it. “Where does it come from then? Everyone seemed pretty certain on the silver thing.”

Donghyun folds his arms behind his head and hums thoughtfully. “I guess they’re just mixing up lycan and werewolves. It's a pretty common mistake.”

“Lycan?” Sungyoon tries the word on his tongue, feeling the strange, unfamiliar syllables of it. “What’s that?”

He hadn’t read of anything about them, though the websites he’d found had covered everything from benevolent little household pixies to mountain yetis.

“Well, I told you about the werewolf gene, right?” Sungyoon nods, and Donghyun smiles, a little proud of his new student. Sungyoon had taken to the subject with far more curiosity and enthusiasm than he’d expected. “Lycans are a human-wolf hybrid too, but being lycan isn’t genetic, so it isn’t something you inherit or pass down to your kids.”

Sungyoon frowns, gnawing on a square of chocolate. The sugar had helped his tiredness, but more than that, he’s too focused on their conversation, trying to absorb every little piece of information, to worry about his fatigue.

“But then, how do you become one?” he asks.

Donghyun’s lip twists as he wonders how to explain it simply. “It’s...kind of like a disease. If a werewolf bites a human, sometimes the bite can trigger a kind of transition, and the human starts to turn into a kind of lesser werewolf. Their split isn’t as equal. They’re a little more human than wolf, so it’s harder for them to control their urges, their transitions. Not as in control as true werewolves, stronger than humans. And they turn on the full moon." Seeing Sungyoon's confusion, he chuckles, and adds, "That's a myth too. Werewolves don't need to do that, if they don't want to. Just lycan.”

“Oh. So how does silver hurt lycan but not werewolves?”

“I’d guess…Well, silver’s antibacterial, right?” Donghyun shrugs. “Lycanthropy’s a disease.”

Sungyoon tries to recap it all in his head, so he doesn't forget anything. Being a werewolf is inherited through family, silver doesn't hurt them, and they don't always change on the full moon. Lycanthropy's a disease past through a werewolf bite. Lycan are more human, but less in control.

He really needs to start writing all of this down somewhere.

“Which one’s stronger?” Sungyoon can’t help but ask. “Lycan or werewolves?”

“Depends on the class. An alpha lycan’s stronger than an omega wolf, but if they’re both the same class…” Donghyun shrugs. “My money’s on the wolf, but lycan can be clever when they want to be.”

_Alpha?_

Wait. He’d heard that before. Where had he heard that before?

Seugmin, shaking his head, muttering under his breath, Bomin trying to cover it up. They’d made some stupid fraternity joke Sungyoon hadn’t believed but couldn’t figure out what was strange about it. They'd been talking about Jangjun. 

Sungyoon huffs a laugh.

“Which one’s Jangjun?”

Donghyun almost spits his coffee all over Sungyoon’s laptop. “ _What?”_ He wheezes, after his coughing fits over, red-faced and breathless. “Why would you ask that?”

“Seungmin mentioned something about alphas before. He was talking about Jangjun, wasn’t he?”

Donghyun groans and flops back into Daeyeol’s chair with enough force the wood squeals. “ _Min_ ,” he grumbles, hands over his face. His voice is mumbled as he continues to whine through his hands, “I swear, that stupid grudge causes so much trouble.”

“Is that what it is?” Sungyoon throws the empty chocolate wrapper into the little trash can under his desk and looks back up to see Donghyun avoiding his gaze. “Seungmin doesn’t like Jangjun because he’s an alpha? Is that something bad?”

“Not...not exactly.”

Another memory of Seungmin's mutter comes back to him- the first time they'd met, when Jangjun had been brought up. Seungmin had scoffed and said ' _I don't make friends with-'_ and Daeyeol had cut him off. It had been one of the first things he'd heard Seungmin say. But he's friends with Donghyun. And it's not just because Jangjun's an alpha. So that means-

"Is it because Jangjun's a lycan? He is, isn't he?"

Donghyun's gapes at him, wide eyed. His reaction is enough of an answer, and Seungmin's small smile is smug and satisfied, too endearing not to laugh at. "You're really not going to quit, are you?"

Sungyoon shrugs. "What's the harm in telling me?"

He's right, Donghyun supposes. What's the harm? If he's fine with Donghyun being a wolf, there's no reason not to trust him with Jangjun's secret, especially now he'd guessed it already.

The wolf shakes his head, sighing. “Seungmin would say it's was because of that if you asked him, but I don't think that's really true. He has no reason to be snobbish about it- there's really not much difference between Jangjun and I."

"So what is it really?" Sungyoon asks. This time, Donghyun bites his lip, and doesn't answer.

“Donghyun,” Sungyoon warns. “What are you trying to keep from me?”

“It’s not important,” the other boy urges. “It’s just- it’s just _really really_ embarrassing.”

“What?” Sungyoon laughs as Donghyun’s cheekbones tint pink, a wicked edge to his smile. “Now you have to tell me.”

They’d wasted a few hours at the laptop, and it’s past noon now, though they hadn't heard anything from Seungmin all day. Sungyoon’s not even sure he’s in the apartment, despite Jibeom saying he was free. Talking about him behind his back feels wrong, but Donghyun is far closer to him than Sungyoon, and if he thinks it’s a conversation they can have without him, Sungyoon guesses it must be alright.

“I guess I owe you this, for lying for so long.” Sungyoon would never blackmail him with that, but he’s really starting to get curious now, so he doesn’t oppose, and eventually Donghyun shuffles uncomfortably and says, “Fine, fine, alright I used to like him a little-”

Sungyoon’s mouth drops open. “You liked _Jangjun?”_

“It was just for a few days, it didn’t last long!” Donghyun shudders, scowling as if there's a bad smell under his nose. “ _Ugh_ , even thinking about it now makes me throw up in my mouth a little.”

At his horrified expression, Sungyoon laughs, and draws his knees up to his chest. “Why would Seungmin not like that?”

It takes longer for Donghyun to answer this time. He stares down at the desktop quietly, thinking, sipping his coffee.

"He had this...weird idea that Jangjun was messing with me or something," he says eventually. "He didn’t like an unfamiliar alpha being so nice to me, thought he was leading me on. He didn’t realise Jangjun was just really oblivious and thought I was an alpha too, ‘cause he’d never had any real werewolf friends. I keep trying to tell Seungmin holding a grudge is dumb when nothing even happened, but he’s not the easiest person to sway. He gets protective sometimes, _crazy_ protective. Once he thought Jangjun was this arrogant alpha type, he just kind of kept believing it, and Jangjun started playing up to it, which didn't help.”

It sounds exactly like what Sungyoon had seen every time the two had been in the same room together- not often, but always tense, with Jangjun turning into a strange, sharper version of himself, Seungmin haughty and irritable and losing all of his usual calm patience.

“Why would Jangjun do that?”

Shrugging, Donghyun swirls the dregs of his coffee around the bottom of his mug. “I don’t blame him, really. He tried to be nice to Seungmin for a while, and it didn’t change anything, so...I guess he thought he might at least have a little fun, if Seungmin’s going to think about him that way no matter what he does.”

Sungyoon knows it’s not his place to judge, and he likes Seungmin, doesn’t want to think badly of him, so he nods and tries to turn his thoughts away from Seungmin’s grudge, how ridiculous it seems to him, and focuses on something else. Unfortunately for Donghyun, that thing just happens to be his reluctant confession.

He can’t help but laugh, imagining it. “I can’t believe you were crushing on Jangjun.”

Donghyun whines and puts his forehead down onto the desk. “It was just a biology thing, alright! I’m a beta, he was this nice alpha I didn’t know, once I actually spoke to him I snapped out of it _very quickly_.” He shudders again, sitting up to down the remains of his coffee, grimacing when he realises it's cold. He gives Sungyoon an askance look. “Besides, it’s not like you’re in any position to judge.”

Sungyoon looks at him sharply. “What does that mean?” 

“I’m pretty sure you know, Yoon,” Donghyun says, with a sly, one-sided grin. 

“Can we talk about something else now?”

And Donghyun just laughs, because he’s too nice for his own good. “Sure.”


	15. Advice

“So you see why we had to tell him,” Jibeom’s saying, ignoring the feeling of a heavy, scalding gaze at his back. “There was no way we were lying our way out of it when blood was all over Yeol’s face.”

Daeyeol huffs a protests, “It was  _ not  _ ‘all over’ my face.”

“You know what I mean.”

They’re in the living room of Jibeom’s house, Bomin and Jaehyun on one sofa, Youngtaek perched on the arm, and Joochan cross-legged in the armchair. Jibeom had curled up on the other sofa with Daeyeol, conscious of Jangjun leaning against the wall behind them, glaring at them all in turn, but mainly at him.

“He looked spooked,” Daeyeol admits. “I think he kind of guessed what was happening as soon as he saw us, even though it took him a while to believe it.”

“And he didn’t immediately run?” Bomin asks, one perfect brow quirked, sounding equal parts impressed and doubtful. 

Jibeom exhales dramatically and slings a leg over Daeyeol’s lap, shuffling closer. Daeyeol knows he hadn’t slept that night, too worried about Sungyoon in the other room, that he’s not yet over the shock. He looks two seconds away from dissolving into the sofa cushions.

“He definitely thought about it,” the druid says.

Joochan hums thoughtfully from his spot in the armchair, stirring something that might be tea, if it weren’t for the effervescent blue shade of the liquid. “But he didn’t. And for whatever reason, it seems like he really did believe you. Perhaps we weren’t giving him enough credit, keeping this from him. ”

Youngtaek glances at Jangjun lingering by the wall and gulps. His eyes flicker to Daeyeol, directing the question to him instead: “This means we don’t need to hide anything anymore, right?”

Jangjun laughs without humour. “Just because he isn’t handing out pitchforks to the village mob, doesn’t mean he’s  _ fine _ with everything,” he says. “There’s still the possibility of overloading him with information he thought was impossible yesterday. He might change his mind, or realise it’s too much for him to handle. Don’t get too excited.”

Youngtaek pouts and throws himself back into the sofa cushions moodily.

Joochan eyes Jangjun at the corner of his vision, not turning his head. “You’re being awfully cautious,” he says politely, teacup raised to his lips. “It isn’t like you.”

Jangjun has a response immediately, which only makes him more amused. “We’ve never had to deal with anything like this before,” the lycan says, and Joochan and Jibeom exchange knowing looks, but say nothing. They’ll have plenty of time to explore the real reason Jangjun’s in such a peculiar mood once all of the details have been agreed upon. For now, Joochan just sits back, and sips his tea.

“Where is Sungyoon, anyway?” Jaehyun’s asking, patting the back of Youngtaek’s hand comfortingly. “I didn’t see him all day.”

Jangjun’s gaze zones in on him, and Jibeom notices and rushes to speak up before Jangjun can launch into another lecture about stalking- “That’s because Jangjun placed him under house arrest and wouldn’t let him leave their dorm.”

“What?” Bomin laughs. “Why would you do that?”

“Because he clearly needed to rest,” Jangjun bites. “And if he goes to class and Jeonghan starts bugging him, he’d only have more questions. He needs time to process all of this before he’s ready for any more surprises.”

“And he didn’t just sneak out?” This is said with so much disbelief that it sounds like awe, in Bomin’s voice. Clearly sneaking out is exactly what he would have done in Sungyoon’s place- Jangjun can’t say that’s surprising. “Where is he now?”

Daeyeol laughs fondly. “Having a pizza night with Donghyun, apparently.” He waves his phone in the air as a message comes in, lighting up his screen, and sighs, “Seungmin’s been complaining about the smell for hours.”

Jangjun rolls his eyes. “Snob.”

“Not the time, Jun,” Daeyeol sighs.

Joochan’s head is tipped thoughtfully to the side, his gaze faraway. Bomin watches him, distantly stirring whatever’s in his teacup, before he clears his throat loudly, and the Fae snaps out of his reverie.

“Something you want to share with the group?” Bomin prompts, as Joochan’s clever eyes find him. 

“I was just thinking,” Joocan starts slowly, the room silent as the others tune in to their conversation, “that...rather than wondering as to the reason for Jangjun’s insistence he stay home, it might be more appropriate to wonder why Sungyoon would obey your wishes so quickly.”

Youngtaek looks around the group with a nonplussed expression. “Did anyone understand that?”

Jangjun’s eyes have narrowed. “What are you trying to say, Chan?”

Though no one else in the room seems to realise what Joochan had been trying to imply, Jibeom giggles. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Daeyeol shakes his head.

“Enlighten us,” Bomin says.

Jibeom glances at all of their blank faces and snorts, lifting his legs from Daeyeol’s and sitting up straighter. “Alright. It’s the same reason Yoon agreed to pretend to be dating Jangjun even though they’d only met once.” He smiles at them all in turn, fox-like in his glee. “Any guesses?”

“He’s batshit crazy?” Bomin offers drily.

“Crazy for someone in this room, maybe,” Jibeom sings, looking over his shoulder, grin wide and sly.

Jangjuns’ eyes flicker red, the wolf version of flipping the bird, and Joochan laughs into his teacup. 

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oh come on!” the redhead cries. “You told him to stay home all day and he did! And when you said you’d help him out with Jeonghan he agreed, even though you looked like a crazy emo psychopath who wears sunglasses indoors and barely spoke to him at all! You don’t think there’s an obvious link there?”

“Harsh,” Bomin laughs.

“And he showed up at the pet shop once,” Jaehyun says, the realisation raising the pitch of his husky voice higher. 

Joochan nods encouragingly. “And you went for coffee together,” he adds, setting his cup down, his tone perfectly matter of fact, “when you showed up at my store.”

“He wanted coffee,” Jangjun argues, stepping away from the wall in his annoyance. “Why do you think that means anything?”

“We don’t really need to answer that, do we?” Jibeom asks. “D’you know how many people  _ ask Joochan out for a coffee _ every day?”

Jangjun shakes his head angrily. “It wasn’t like that.”

Daeyeol gives him a softer smile, and says, “He looked so down those few days you were gone, Jangjun.”

A flicker of interest interrupts the irritation of Jangjun’s expression. “He did?” Bomin and Jibeom both beam at him, and he throws his hands up, immediately regretting showing any reaction. “No, forget I asked, it doesn’t matter.”

Jibeom groans, losing patience. “Of course it matters! You like him, don’t you?”

Bomin’s eyes flicker up and down Jangjun’s form, crinkled at the edges with amusement. “You needn’t bothering answering  _ that, _ either.”

“So he knows about a few of us and hasn’t run away yet,” Jangjun shrugs. “That doesn’t change the fact that he’s human. It’s ridiculous to even entertain the idea, Ji.”

Apparently, Sungyoon now knows about Donghyun, Jibeom and Daeyeol, and Seungmin- according to his texts- is in the process of answering very in depth questions about the difference between elves and pixies right now. But they hadn’t mentioned any one else in detail, and Jangjun’s not looking forward to his turn in the interview room.

Joochan’s looking at him too closely, clever eyes lighting across the expression Jangjun’s trying his best to keep blank. He turns his face away.

The fae raises one shoulder in a graceful shrug. “He’s with Donghyun right now, as close as ever. Why would you think he’d have any qualms about you?”

This time, Jangjun doesn’t have an answer ready. He starts, “I-”, and then his voice dies, and the confused expressions around him transition almost at one into excitement. Youngtaek gives a happy little yelp and slides onto the couch, squishing Jaehyun and Bomin together.

Bomin rolls his eyes, but moves over to make room for them both.

“No more excuses,” the angel says, pointing at Jangjun threateningly. “We’re helping you out.”

Jibeom nods enthusiastically. “I don’t know what happened to the boy who turned all of my relatives to enamoured puddles of goo-” he cups his hands under his chin and widens his eyes, batting his eyelashes in a crude imitation “-but as soon as Sungyoon came into the picture he was  _ long _ gone. You need some serious help with this one.”

Daeyeol jostles him reprimandingly with his shoulder as Jangjun insists, “I do not!”

Bomin chuckles. “You’re saying you know exactly what you’re doing?”

“Why would I need  _ your _ help?” Jangjun bites.

Amusement flickers in Joochan’s bright eyes. “That almost sounds like you’ve been thinking about how to win him over, Jun.”

There’s a long silence as he glares at them all and they all grin back at him. Then Jibeom gives him an encouraging, playful eyebrow raise and he deflates, leaning against the back of Jibeom’s sofa.

“You’re a bunch of traitors,” he grumbles, but even Youngtaek just giggles. They’re all on the same side for this, it seems.

“He told Seungmin he was deciding between the Sport and Music departments when he applied here,” Joochan starts. Trust him to already have a game plan. “I happen to be quite gifted in that area, if I say so myself.”

Jangjun shoves Jibeom into Daeyeol’s side and collapses into a sofa cushion. “You’re not seriously suggesting I serenade him, are you?”

From the armchair beside him, Joochan nods, just once, as if he doesn’t understand what’s so difficult to understand. “I’d suggest violin, but I can teach you whatever you choose.”

“Great,” Jangjun sighs. “Any other courting methods from the 17th century?”

Daeyeol gives him a sharp warning look. “Play nice,” he says. “And you know everyone’s reaction to Joochan. He could be very helpful right now, more helpful than the rest of us combined.”

Jaehyun leans a little closer to Bomin as he feels the air take on a slither of tension. Jangjun barks a laugh. His grin is tight, and toothy, and Joochan avoids his gaze as if he already knows what he’s going to say.

“If you hadn’t noticed, Sungyoon’s one of the only humans on campus who isn’t  _queuing_ up to kiss Joochan’s boots.”

Daeyeol sighs and shakes his head. 

Jibeom leans closer to his side and mutters, “At least he said ‘boots’.”

“So you’re really not going to take Chan’s advice?” Bomin asks.

Jangjun throws his head back onto the sofa cushion and closes his eyes. “Don’t need it,” he says shortly, and the others roll their eyes now he can’t see them, exchange glances, but don’t argue.


	16. Invitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for any mistakes! i havent had the chance to proofread this chapter as much as the others 'cause i have schoolwork to do and i should reaaaaally stop procrastinating that now 😅😅😅 aaaaahahaha the pain.

Sungyoon steps into the kitchen the next morning and sighs.

“ _ Really _ ?”

Jangjun looks up at him from the kitchen table, Daeyeol beside him, their conversation dying as the door swings shut behind Sungyoon. They blink at him for a few seconds, Sungyoon’s exasperation transitioning almost immediately into bashfulness as Jangjun eyes his sweatshirt and the towel hanging around his shoulders, the hair he’d quickly swept away from his forehead, still dripping water. He hadn’t been expecting a visitor so early and now he’s  _ really, really _ regretting not peeking into the kitchen before stepping inside.

“Good morning,” Jangjun manages

Sungyoon uses the excuse of grabbing a water bottle from the refrigerator to turn away. With his back still to the boys at the table, he asks, “Is this what it’s going to be like now? A personal escort to every class?”

“Well, really, Jaehyun’s already been doing that until now, so…”

Frowning, Sungyoon closes the refrigerator and turns to lean against it. “Jaehyun,” he echoes. Jangjun nods. “Jaehyun’s been following me to class? Since when?”

Jangjun’s watching him closely, eyes flickering across his expression, as if he’s trying to decide whether he’s angry. “Your first night here.”

“But I’ve never...saw him.” Jangjun sees the dawning realisation on his face and gives him a smile bordering on apologetic. Sungyoon screws his eyes shut and shakes his head. “No.”

Daeyeol tries not to laugh and fails, and Jangjun shoves him hard in the side, clearly fighting to keep his own laughter in, lips turning up at the edges. Sungyoon just blinks at the two of them blankly, and Jangjun gives a more pitying kind of smile.

“I did try to tell you the cat was no good,” he reasons.

The only person Sungyoon had met on his first night was Joochan, when he’d asked for directions. And the tabby cat.

He throws his damp towel onto a countertop and covers his face with the sleeves of his sweatshirt, sighing. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Why else would I hate you being around the little fleabag so much? Jae wasn’t supposed to be around you unless he was in his human form, but you were so nice to him he just kept showing up.”

His voice is muffled by his hands still covering his face as Sungyoon says, “So the cat I’ve been feeding and petting all this time-”

“Jaehyun,” Jangjun nods. Sungyoon groans, and there’s a short laugh, and then a tug at his sleeve that makes him jolt. He hadn’t realised Jangjun had stood up, but he had, and now he’s close enough to pull Sungyoon’s arms down and away from his face. “You must have wondered why he likes you so much when you’ve barely spoken.”

“I just thought he was like that,” Sungyoon pouts, his mind conjuring the memories of Jaehyun in the pet shop, clinging to Jibeom’s arm shyly, all of his dreamy smiles, how he’d seemed to comfortable sitting close to Sungyoon when they’d went for sushi, though they barely knew each other. 

“Well it wasn’t as if I could just  _ guess _ that the cat who follows me around everywhere is actually a boy!” he whines, and Daeyeol snorts. “That doesn’t make any sense!”

Jangjun’s watching him with a grin so wide that it’s clear Sungyoon’s expression is still dazed, but he doesn’t tease. “No,” he admits, “we shouldn’t have expected you’d guess something like that.”

The door creaks open, and Donghyun shuffles into the kitchen, still in his pyjamas, a hoodie that drowns him in fabric and plaid trousers, hair sticking in every direction, mid-yawn.

He spots Jangjun and Sungyoon standing beside the table and rubs at his eyes. “What are you doing here so early?”

“Apparently, I can’t be trusted to walk a few blocks by myself,” Sungyoon says, and Donghyun’s chuckle is cut off by another yawn. 

Jangjun tuts. “Of course you can. I just wanted to talk to you.”

“O-oh. You did?”

_ That doesn’t sound good. _

But Jangjun’s smiling, at least, as he steps back and gives him some room. “Come on,” the dark haired boy says, “we can talk on your way to class.”

Donghyun meets his eye over Jangjun’s shoulder, suddenly far more awake.

“Give him time to change, at least,” he reprimands. “It’s freezing outside, his hair’s still wet.”

_ Oh yeah, _ Jangjun thinks. He curses himself silently for the discretion- he can’t remember the last time he’d felt the cold, but Sungyoon isn’t like the others. “Right. Sorry.”

Donghyun winks at him as Sungyoon flies out of the kitchen, and he can’t decide whether he wants to strangle him or kiss him. He’s the only one in the room who’d noticed him being uncomfortable, but this also gives him  _ so _ many opportunities to tease him-

Sungyoon shakes himself out of his thoughts and rushes about his room, the black lightning to its true dark silver color as his hair dries, the ratty old sweatshirt replaced with a button up and a heavy jacket, swiping the usual pile of jewellery from his desktop as he does everyday and stepping back out into the hall. Donghyun, in the kitchen, spots him and points in his direction- Jangjun emerges only a second later, hands in his pockets.

“Ready?”

“Yeah,” Sungyoon lies, and leads the way.

They walk out of the dormitory in a silence so heavy Sungyoon debates whether it might just be better to run as fast as he can away before it gets too awkward, but then they’re out in the cold, and Jangjun eyes him carefully and disrupts the quiet.

“So,” he starts, in a tone that indicates a conversation more serious than Sungyoon wants to hold at such an early hour, “I hear you’ve been having some interesting conversations with Donghyun.”

“He’s probably sick of me,” he says, only half joking. “I had a lot of questions.”

Jangjun laughs without opening his mouth. His voice is dubious and dry as he asks, “ _ Had _ ?”

“Have,” Sungyoon corrects. “They wouldn’t actually tell me anything about the rest of you, just themselves, so- wait. Won’t Jaehyun be mad at you for telling me about him?”

“Oh, right. No, that’s actually why I’m here.” He flattens a palm against his chest and gives a half-bow that makes Sungyoon giggle. “As our elected spokesperson, I’m here to answer any questions you have.”

“Why you?”

“A...difference in circumstance. The others thought maybe I’d be able to understand your situation more.”  _ And there’s another reason they just decided to lump it all on me, but I don’t think you’ll like that as much. _

“It is because you weren’t born like this?”

Jangjun’s step falters. Sungyoon stops, turning to see Jangjun frowning at him, hands out of his pockets, eyes wide in shock. “How did you-”

“Donghyun- well he didn’t really tell me about you  _ specifically _ ,” Sungyoon says, wincing guiltily, talking fast in his rushed explanation. “Just, I had questions about wolves and he told me about lycan too and it sounded like you.”

This seems to surprise Jangjun even more than Sungyoon’s original question. “It did?”

_ Shit, the silver. _ He’d grabbed the usual assortment of rings and necklace from his desk without stopping to think about it, it’s so ingrained in his routine to slide them on and forget about them.

“It’s a short walk,” Jangjun says, as they start moving again, far slower than Sungyoon ever walks to class. “If you have any questions you want answered now, I’d start asking.”

Sungyoon turns his body only slightly towards Jangjun so one of his arms is behind the dark-haired boy, so he might not notice Sungyoon’s hand shoved in his pocket trying desperately to work the rings off of his fingers without being obvious.

Even distracted as he is, Sungyoon isn’t going to pass up on the opportunity to learn more about the things they’d been trying to hide from him. “ _ Anything _ I want to ask?”

“Anything within reason,” Jangjun nods. “I can tell you what Youngtaek does all day in his room, but I’m not giving you anyone’s social security number.”

“Why do you know Youngtaek’s social security number?” Sungyoon laughs. The ring he’d been trying to spin off of his finger finally comes loose and drops into his pocket.

Jangjun shrugs. “Someone has to.”

“Will you tell me what Joochan is?” Sungyoon tries. Dark eyes fly over his expression.

Jangjun carefully asks, “Why do you want to know that?” 

The last ring slides off of his fingers- he shrugs as he takes his hand out of his pocket, trying to cover up the movement. “They wouldn’t tell me,” he says.

But Jangjun seems to believe that excuse about as much as Sungyoon does- sure, he’d been more curious when the others wouldn’t say, but more than that he wants to know why it had been Joochan that he’d started to wonder about first, what it was he’d saw in Joochan without really  _ seeing  _ it, whether his distrust was hasty or whether it’s deserved. He’d been the most comfortable with Joochan to begin with, and he doesn’t understand why now he’s so wary of him.

Jangjun sighs and shakes his head, though it’s clear his exasperation isn’t at Sungyoon. “Joochan was the only one who didn’t give me permission to talk about him. He wants you to guess, I think, before he explains himself..”

It doesn’t exactly blunt Sungyoon’s mistrust. “Why would he do that?”

Jangjun shrugs as if he’s used to not understanding Joochan’s reasoning. “There’s your first hint, I suppose. He likes to play games.”

That does sound like him. Sungyoon had been thinking of the expressions on the people in the music room’s faces when Joochan had been playing for them, awed and empty, even more since the secret had come out. He’s not aware that his own expression is strangely similar as he gets lost in his thoughts, blank and distant and distracted, but Jangjun notices. He’d been friends with Joochan long enough now that he’s more than used to that look.

“Let’s talk about someone else,” the dark haired boy says.

Sungyoon looks up at him as if he’d forgotten he was there, but then he looks away, frowning at himself, and nods.

“Anyone else you’re curious about?”

What he really wants to ask is how much Donghyun told Sungyoon about him, but he’s scared that the answer will be everything, and Sungyoon doesn’t seem to be curious about him, anyway.

Other than Joochan, then- “The only people I don’t know about are Bomin and Youngtaek.” 

“Youngtaek’s easy, he’s a witch,” Jangjun says bluntly. Sungyoon glances up at him hesitantly, but there’s nothing angry in his expression. Maybe he’d imagined it in his voice. “And not a very good one. Ask something else.”

“Then, Bomin.”

This one seems more complicated. Jangjun goes quiet for a moment, until they round a corner and the sports department comes into view, and then just sighs and decides there’s no easy way to explain. “Bomin’s an angel.”

Sungyoon laughs as if he’d told a joke, mistaking the truth for a term of endearment, like he thinks Jangjun’s just joking to avoid the question. “No, seriously.”

“No, seriously.”

Sungyoon’s smile drops when he sees Jangjun staring back at him without any humour in his expression. He’s really not joking.

“Those- those exist?”

His bafflement breaks up some of the seriousness- Jangjun laughs breathlessly at his expression. “Yeah I was pretty surprised too,” he admits. “Especially ‘cause I thought that meant he had to be all benevolent and holy.”

The image of Bomin the first time they’d met, when he’d been waiting outside Sungyoon’s class in his woollen vest and the sun in his hair and his eyes wrinkled with a friendly smile resurfaces in Sungyoon’s memory. Hadn’t the first thing he’d thought been how different he was from Jangjun, black-clad and expressionless beside him?

“He isn't?”

Jangjun’s laugh is high and loud enough that a few tired-looking students startle and turn to glare at the two of them. “Are you kidding?”

Sungyoon shrugs. It’s colder than he’d realised- when he puts his hands in his pockets the sudden warmth stings his frozen fingers. “He seems like such a sweetheart.”

“He got mad at me once and painted all of the door handles in our house with real silver spray paint.”

Sungyoon’s mouth drops open. He hesitates for a second, but then, Jangjun doesn’t really look angry, so he releases the giggle he’d been trying to hold in. Jangjun just smiles.

“Did you deserve it?” Sungyoon can’t help but ask.

“Not even slightly, that time.”

Sungyoon giggles and is about to ask what it was that Jangjun had done the other times to deserve Bomin’s wrath when a figure turns around from their spot on the bench outside the building and Sungyoon realises who it is. Jangjun hears the way his laugh cuts off and frowns, but then follows his line of sight to the bench and spots the familiar purple-haired nuisance watching them.

Jangjun doesn’t take his eyes away from Jeonghan as he asks, “Is he waiting for you?”

“I don’t know,” Sungyoon sighs. “He does that sometimes.”

He’d always made it seem like a coincidence, bumping into Sungyoon outside of their building, but sometimes it’s on days they don’t even have a class together, when Jangjun or one of the others walk him to his building but Sungyoon steps inside alone to realise as soon as he’s on his own again, Jeonghan finds him.

Sungyoon doesn’t realise Jangjun’s moving until it happens- there’s a surprised catch in the back of his throat and Jangjun rips his hand away, and a tinny click as a ring drops out of Sungyoon’s pocket and bounces onto the asphalt. Jangjun had been reaching for his hand and found the ring instead. He exhales sharply in surprise, the cold turning his breath into a white cloud, and when he turns his hand around, the back of it is raised and red, a small, angry mark cutting across his knuckles.

Sungyoon swears and grabs Jangjun’s hand with both of his when the other boy tries to hide the burn. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you-”

Jangjun gives something close to a laugh and pulls his hand away. “It’s fine, it’s nothing.” 

“But I-”

“ _ Really _ , Yoon. It’s fine.” He holds his hand up in the air at eye level and wiggles his fingers. “See? Gone already.”   


Sungyoon glares miserably at the ring that had fallen out of his pocket- Jangjun looks across at the boy watching them from the bench, and sighs.

“That’s a problem, though.”

Sungyoon, distracted, doesn’t look at him as he mumbles, “What?”

Jangjun justs his chin toward the benches, and Sungyoon doesn’t need to look to understand who he’s talking about. “He was supposed to think I was a wolf. I think he noticed the silver.”

He’s right- when Sungyoon finally dares a glance toward the bench, Jeonghan’s still watching them, head tipped to the side. “Why is that bad?”

“He got into a fight with an alpha a while back,” Jangjun explains, still glaring at the fae sneering back at him. “Jibeom thought if there was a wolf always hanging around you, Jeonghan would let up, but…”

“You’re still technically a wolf, aren’t you?”

Jangjun laughs meanly. “I’m barely the runt of the pack. And now he knows you know, he’ll stop acting so human, too.”

Sungyoon isn’t surprised- when he’d stumbled in on Daeyeol and started to wonder whether the people around him weren’t quite as ordinary as they’d seemed, he hadn’t just thought about his flatmates and their friends. Suddenly the others’ wariness about his stalker started to make a lot more sense. He doesn’t know what Jeonghan is, exactly, but he finds he doesn’t really care.

Jangjun’s no longer glaring at the benches, chin tipped to his chest, and when Sungyoon looks down to where his gaze is directed he sees Jangjun’s rubbing the back of his hand where the burn used to be, lost in thought.

“Is your hand alright?”

Jangjun blinks at him, and then looks back down at his hands, like he’d already forgotten about what happened, as if he’s confused about Sungyoon’s worry. He goes quiet for a second, and then he’s standing straighter, hands in his pockets, back to normal.

“I’m sorry we kept this from you for so long,” he says suddenly. “We should have known you would... try to be accommodating. You know why we didn’t tell you, right?”

Distantly, Sungyoon’s aware he must be late for class by now, and Jeonghan’s still waiting for him, but he stays where he is. “Daeyeol said you didn’t want to scare me.”

“That was part of it,” Jangjun agrees. His eyes are dark and intent as they study Sungyoons’ expression, searching for something, not quite apologetic, just trying to make him understand why they did it. “Sometimes it’s dangerous, to show the wrong people. Not everyone is as understanding as you. Not everyone tries to be.”

“I get it,” Sungyoon says, because he does. He’d spent one night fretting over the fact that they’d been keeping secrets from him, that maybe they could have told him sooner if they’d wanted to, but even then he hadn’t really felt angry, and the sting of realising they’d been secretive with him hadn’t lasted long. “Really, there’s nothing to apologize for.”

The corners of Jangjun’s lips turn up just slightly, realising he’s sincere. They’re the only people outside now- Jeonghan had stalked away when a few more students had trailed inside, which means Sungyoon’s almost definitely missing some of his class, but this conversation had gone almost impossibly better than Jangjun had thought it would, so he can’t really find it in himself to feel sorry. And if he doesn’t do it now, he’s probably just going to chicken out, if he ever gets the opportunity again.

“Well…” he starts slowly. Even though he’d told himself to do it now, just get it over with, the words don’t want to come out. Sungyoon raises a brow and he curses himself and tries again. “Now we have nothing to hide from you... have dinner with us. It would be a welcome change to cook for someone other than Youngtaek.”

The way Sungyoon’s eyes widen might not be a good sign.“You-you’re offering to make me dinner?”

“Yes?” He hadn't meant it to come out as a question, but Sungyoon takes a step back, uncertain, as if he’s about to give an excuse to get out of it like they’d been trying to do with him for weeks, and Jangjun panics.

“I-”

“Please,” Jangjun says, too loud. “I’ve been dying to cook for someone that can actually  _ eat _ the food I make. Jaehyun eats nothing but fish, and Youngtaek’s so fussy I’ve been making the same thing over and over again for weeks. ”

Sungyoon lets out a little breathy laugh. He at least seems to be considering it now.

“Dinner with a bunch of supernatural creatures?” he asks. “You know if this was a fairytale, I’d end up in the oven.”

Jangjun stares at him, startled, and he grimaces and looks away, immediately regretting the joke, wondering whether it was really just too strange to be funny or, worse, whether Jangjun will be offended. But another startled second passes, and then Jangjun throws his head back and laughs, shoving him, and Sungyoon can release the breath he’d been holding. 

“I promise you won’t be the main course,” Jangjun says, laughter still in his voice. He’s grinning ear to ear, even though he’s clearly trying not to, and it does funny things to Sungyoon’s stomach, to think he’s the reason for it.

“Not dessert either?” Jangjun glances at him curiously, still grinning, and Sungyoon shrugs, hoping his face isn’t burning as red as it feels. “Just being safe.”

Jangjun barks a shorter, quieter kind of laugh and lays a palm flat against the lapel of his jacket and raises another in the air. “I promise, you won’t appear anywhere on the menu.”

Sungyoon can’t help but laugh too, at Jangjun’s mock seriousness. He hesitates, but Jangjun grins at him, and before he can talk himself out of it he says, “Alright. Just because you’re desperate.”

“Tonight, then,” Jangjun says, still grinning, wolfish, and he starts to step away. “At the house.”

_ Tonight? _ Sungyoon’s suddenly regretting the wave of bravery that’d made him agree. As if the panic shows on his face, Jangjun holds up a finger, still walking away.

“No take backs.”

Sungyoon lets out a strangled noise that does nothing for his case and watches Jangjun turn on his heels and get further and further away. He’s  _ really _ late for his class now, so much that it’s probably not worth showing up for, but Jeonghan’s nowhere to be seen, so at least one of his problems is solved, temporarily. Which means now he just has the entire day to worry about the dinner invitation and what it means and what it’s going to be like in one room with them all now they’re not trying to hide things from him. He groans and rips at his hair-  _ why on earth had he agreed to this? _


	17. An Apology And A Promise

“What are you doing here all by yourself?”

Sungyoon curses silently- the voice had been close behind him, lilting and irritatingly familiar. 

He’d gone to the library after Jangjun left him, deciding against walking into class a half hour late, planning on getting some work done before dinner and hoping it would distract him from worrying about it constantly. It hadn’t worked, the room so smothering in its silence that he’d relocated to a bench outside some building he’d never even noticed before, staying away from the sport department in the hopes of avoiding Jeonghan and the music department in fear of running into Joochan.

And he’d made a decent dent in his workload, with no disruptions, until now. _Now_ a glance over his shoulder shows a long-haired boy leaning over him, sly eyes scanning the neat rows of writing curiously, and Sungyoon immediately regrets coming here instead of just heading back to the dorm. There’s no one around to come to his rescue, and with Jeonghan leaning so close over his shoulder, he has no escape route.

“Trying to concentrate,” Sungyoon says. His voice is disinterested despite the anger trying to claw up his throat, because he’d realised by now that this gets the least reaction. Jeonghan always seems to enjoy his irritation, only pushes harder when Sungyoon ignores him.

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Give me some space,” Sungyoon suggests. But he’d sounded too annoyed- Jeonghan laughs as if he’d been joking and steps back, but only so he can slide onto the bench beside him.

“Have you decided what events you’re participating in for the sports day?”

“No.” That’s not true: the entire track team had been designated races last time they’d met, but if he tells Jeonghan that it’ll be taken as an invitation to come cheer him on, or just open up a longer conversation he could cut short right now, so he keeps his mouth shut.

“I’m in a few races myself,” Jeonghan says. “For the swim team.”

Sungyoon already knows this, because Jeonghan had been the reason he’d never showed up to a swim team meeting. He’d heard about the other boy’s participation in the club and had yet to even step foot in the pool room because of it.

“Where’re your buddies?” Jeonghan asks, as if he can’t see Sungyoon pulling his notepad closer and pretending to be absorbed in his writing. Really, he’d forgotten what he’d been doing the moment he’d heard Jeonghan behind him.

“On their way,” Sungyoon lies. 

Jeonghan laughs, though, and it’s clear he doesn’t believe him, because he moves closer and snatches Sungyoon’s notebook. “What’re you writing?”

Sungyoon tries to grab it back but isn’t quick enough- Jeonghan lifts it out of his reach almost too fast to track, smirking, and Sungyoon sighs and stops trying.

“I know you’re still trying to catch up with the rest of us, after starting so late in the semester,” Jeonghan says. “I could help you out.”

“I don’t need your help.”

Jeonghan grins and languidly waves his paper in the air. “Are you sure? I’m a very good tutor. We could-”

He stops, something catching his eye, and the smirk that had stretched ear to ear twists into an irritated scowl. Sungyoon flinches as a moth flies close to his face and settles on the bench in front of him, wings beating slowly as it lands. Jeonghan glares at it.

“Can I have my paper back?” Sungyoon tries again, but this time it’s tossed towards him without care, and Jeonghan grabs the textbook Sungyoon had bought from the library instead, snatching it and bringing it down with startling force on the table, right where the moth had been. Horrified, Sungyoon can’t force his eyes away as Jeonghan lifts the book again, even though he doesn’t want to see what must be underneath. But there’s nothing there, anyway. The moth’s gone.

“Pests.” Jeonghan throws the book back onto the table. “You shouldn’t let them fly around you so much.”

It’s obvious he’s not really talking about the moths anymore, and Sungyoon huffs and jumps to his feet, the anger he’d been trying to tame throughout their conversation finally too much to ignore. Jeonghan smiles innocently up at him, but Sungyoon tries to take a step away from the bench and his arm darts out, cold fingers circling Sungyoon’s wrist and locking in place.

“Let go of my arm,” Sungyoon grinds out, trying to force his voice into calmness, only half succeeding. The purple haired boy’s still smiling up at him, his expression alarmingly gentle in contrast to the blood-stopping grip he’s got on Sungyoon’s wrist.

Maybe for the first time ever, real fear twists in Sungyoon’s gut. He thinks this might be the first time he realises the situation he’s in.

“You should stay and wait for your friends,” Jeonghan says.

Sungyoon twists his arm but can do nothing to break the other boy’s hold. 

“This isn’t funny, let me go.”

Jeonghan laughs and opens his mouth to say something, and by now Sungyoon’s heartbeat is thudding so loudly in his ears that he wonders whether he’ll even be able to make out the words when another moth flutters down and lands on the back of Jeonghan’s hand. He pulls his arm away as if he’d been stung, and Sungyoon stumbles, suddenly free, almost losing his balance.

He doesn’t stop or look over his shoulder- he’s around the corner and jogging back in the direction of his dorm before Jeonghan recovers from his shock. He’s only ran around a few corners before he finds Joochan standing in his way.

He pulls himself to a halt, skidding on the asphalt, and Joochan doesn’t even look at him, hands clasped casually behind his back, dressed more casually than Sungyoon had saw him before, in a white dress shirt and navy slacks, gazing up at a tree turning orange with autumn at the edge of the path.

“Ready to talk to me yet?” he asks, without turning.

“Was that you?” Joochan raises a brow. “The moths. They’re always around you.”

Joochan lifts one shoulder almost imperceptibly and turns to face him properly. “I didn’t think you’d want to see me.”

Sungyoon shakes his head. “It’s not like that.”

He wonders for a moment whether he should still be walking back to his dorm, with Jeonghan so close behind him, but from his reaction to the insects he doesn’t think there’s much chance Jeonghan will follow him now, anyway.

Joochan studies him with his hands still clasped behind him. “What is it like, then?” 

It’s not _dislike,_ that Sungyoon feels. Just wariness, just uncertainty. At first, he’d thought Joochan was just magnetic, like some people tend to be, someone that draws you in without really trying, but the effects had gone a little too far for it to be so simple. Whenever he’d saw Joochan smiling at someone, making them laugh, he’d wondered exactly _why_ they hung on his every word like they did- and then there’s the fact that he’s the only person Jeonghan really seems to pay attention to.

“I told you. I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“About me?” Sungyoon nods, and Joochan hums thoughtfully, a level note that sounds like understanding. “What would help you understand?”

Sungyoon hesitates. The others had rejected his questions about Joochan so quickly that now he’s really asked about them, he doesn’t know where to begin, whether he even should. But Joochan smiles, and beckons with his head down the path, and they start walking.

“I asked Jangjun about you,” Sungyoon admits, “but he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“I wanted to explain myself,” Joochan says, glancing at Sungyoon’s expression to see his reaction. “There are some...unfortunate similarities that I wanted to speak with you about.”

_Unfortunate similarities?_

Oh.

“You’re the same as Jeonghan, aren’t you?”

If Joochan is surprised, or impressed, by the sudden insight, he doesn’t let it show. “It’s not a comparison I’m proud of, but yes. _Fae_ encompasses a rather large variety of beings, but there aren’t very many of us young enough to be hanging around college campuses. I didn’t expect to meet another of my kind here.”

“Fae,” Sungyoon repeats. “I read about them somewhere.”

“Good. It would perhaps benefit you to do some research. But, please-” he stops, holding an arm out so Sungyoon stops too, and makes sure Sungyoon’s meeting his eye- “I don’t want you to think we’re all like Jeonghan. Some of- maybe even most of us, might share a few of his worse traits, but no entire species is the same.”

“I know. I just...I wondered what you _did_ , when Jangjun was away, to make him so wary of me, and-”

“Did you read anything on glamours?” Joochan asks suddenly, talking easily over him, and Sungyoon frowns. He casts his mind back to the sites he’d found and read by himself and then with Donghyun, but what little there might have been about the subject is hazy, and he shakes his head. “Well they’re like an enchantment, except rather than casting it on someone else, you cast it on yourself.”

Sungyoon shakes his head. “I don’t…”

Joochan nods, seeing the confusion in his expression. “That’s alright,” he says softly. “No one is expecting you to understand immediately, without proper explanation first.” 

“Can you show me?” Sungyoon asks. “Like Jibeom showed me what he could do.”

For a moment, there’s silence, as Joochan considers this, but then he unclasps his hands and shrugs. “I don't see why not.”

For a moment, the only thing he does is smile. Sungyoon wonders whether there’s something he’s missing, something he should be noticing, but Joochan doesn’t look any different to him- well…

_Is he different?_

“This is called a glamour,” Joochan says, and his voice has that strange, eerie quality too, that Sungyoon can’t place, like it’s Joochan’s voice from someone else’s mouth, not quite a perfect imitation, though he can’t place what’s different about it. “It’s one of the tricks Fae like to play- mainly harmless, unless used for certain purposes.”

Sungyoon studies every inch of Joochan's face and finds nothing but the usual well-boned elegance. His thoughts feel sluggish, trying to keep up, and his words come slowly, with difficulty. “Purposes like what? What are you even doing?”

“Hit me,” Joochan says. Then he stumbles backwards, laughing breathlessly, one hand clutching his chest where Sungyoon had shoved him, hard, so hard that when he comes back to himself he wonders how Joochan managed to stay on his feet.

“You’re stronger than you look.”

Sungyoon rushes backwards. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“You didn’t want to, no,” Joochan nods, smoothing the creases of his shirt. “But I wanted you to, so you did.”

A chill runs down Sungyoon’s spine. It had been as if he’d left his body, for a second, and then he’d been back, feeling the pressure of the hit on his palms, knowing he’d done it, but not remembering. “You make people do things?”

“Fae can be very persuasive. I’m going to drop the glamour now, and maybe you’ll see what you’ve been missing.”

Sungyoon’s ears pop- Joochan must have done _something._ But it takes another long moment of studying his face to realise what it is that changed.

“You look different.”

When the glamour had been put up, he’d somehow overlooked how it had disrupted Joochan’s features, his eyes brighter, the panes of his face sharper, Joochan’s usual magnetism heightened so much he couldn’t look away, couldn’t even blink. Only now it has broken up, and Joochan has started looking more human, does he even notice his own reaction. 

“And sound different, I’d imagine.”

That’s what it was- an echo, Joochan’s clear voice tinny and metallic, as if three voices were speaking at once. Now it sounds so quiet and flat in comparison.

“Have you done that to me before?” Sungyoon asks, already knowing the answer

“I wish I could say no, but-” Joochan shakes his head. “Lying is one of the few things a Fae can't do to you, so…”

This he remembers- Donghyun himself had confirmed it, though he’d said nothing about Joochan, when Sungyoon had asked if it was true Fae can’t lie. He’d thought it meant he might be able to trust them.

“What did you do?”

“I made you like me,” Joochan shrugs. “I thought by using a glamour I might be able to make you more at ease, and I wanted you to be comfortable, so I-”

“So you tricked me into thinking I could trust you?”

“Influenced you, slightly, is all.”

That first night before he met any of the others, Joochan had walked him to his dorm. Sungyoon had liked him, immediately, undoubtingly since then, never stopping to wonder why he'd been so open to a stranger, let a stranger know where he lived, told a stranger his name. He's usually careful, usually finds it hard to even smile at strangers on the street. It wasn't until Jangjun was gone that he'd realised how weird his reaction to Joochan had been, and how similar it was to everyone _else's_ reaction to Joochan.

So it had been a glamour, that'd made him so comfortable, that'd made him overlook the less trustworthy parts of Joochan. 

Sungyoon frowns. “But I _don’t_ trust you.”

Joochan grimaces at the bluntness, but nods. “I suppose I deserve that, considering what I’ve done. When Jangjun left town for a while he asked me to look after you, so I did. I... _influenced_ the people around you, so Jeonghan would notice. He could sense the persuasion, but not the source, and I thought it would spook him enough that he might avoid you until Jangjun’s return- which it would have, if you hadn’t noticed something was wrong.”

“So you weren’t persuading me too?” 

“I was trying,” Joochan admits, “but glamours can only stretch so wide before they begin to fray, and-” he gestures with an open palm at Sungyoon, smiling almost sadly “-someone sees through the cracks.”

Which is why he’d suddenly begun to wonder why he’d gotten so close to Joochan, why suddenly the immediate trust he’d put in the other boy seemed so strange to him. It was the glamour dropping, Joochan’s usual charm fading just enough to show the boy beneath, the stranger Sungyoon had started to doubt, that knew too much and kept secrets, that had so much sway over the dazed, enchanted people around him.

But this time Sungyoon could tell the difference when his glamour went up, and dropped again. Which means whatever persuasion Joochan had been trying on him, he isn’t trying it anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Joochan says, as if he knows exactly what Sungyoon’s thinking, as if he can sense the opportunity to sway him again. “I understand why you might want to avoid me, but I won’t do it again, you have my word.”

Sungyoon supposes that’s something, from someone who can’t lie. At least he knows the apology is genuine. And their conversation has raised another worry in his mind that concerns him more than whether his decision to forgive Joochan is a wrong one.

“Jeonghan could do this as well? If he wanted to?”

Joochan nods, but doesn’t seem worried, seems as if he doesn’t even want to waste time considering the possibility. “If he wanted to. But he hasn't tried one yet, and I doubt he’d attempt one now after realising it was me who was watching over you.”

Sungyoon remembers Jeonghan’s reaction to the moths, how he’d ripped his hand away when one had landed there, his scowl when he’d spotted it batting it’s wings in front of Sungyoon.

The others seem harmless, even after discovering what they really are. Joochan’s different. Not harmless, not like anyone Sungyoon had ever been around before. 

But the others trust him. And if Sungyoon's honest with himself, his curiosity is getting the better of him already.

“I have your word?" he asks, and Joochan's clever eyes flicker between his. "I can trust you?”

Joochan chuckles. “I wouldn’t ask anyone to _trust_ me, Sungyoon, I don’t think I’ll ever be deserving of the sentiment. But you have my word I won’t lie to you.”

“And no more glamours?”

“Not with you," Joochan promises.

Maybe it’s not enough. Maybe he should be thinking about all of the other students he’d seen flocking around Joochan, all of the enchanted, dazed expressions, and wondering whether he should forgive the person playing with them. But for now, it’s what he’s owed, an apology and a promise, and his curiosity won't be satisfied if he shuts Joochan out now. He's grown too greedy for information, wants to know everything he'd been missing out on, and he won't condone what he doesn't understand. 

So he says, “Alright, then,” and Joochan smiles.


	18. Preparations

Donghyun's eyes widen. “He invited you to dinner?”

“Where?” Seungmin asks. 

The three of them are in the kitchen, Sungyoon nursing a hot chocolate after being out in the cold so long, Seungmin typing on a laptop and mostly ignoring them, Donghyun on the other side of the table, setting his phone down and turning his undivided attention on Sungyoon.

Trying not to balk under the sudden scrutiny, Sungyoon says, “At their house.”

“Jangjun’s house,” Donghyun repeats, voicing it like a question, and Sungyoon nods hesitantly, unsure what’s being asked of him. “Jangjun invited you over so you could eat dinner with him, at his house.”

Sungyoon looks between the two wide-eyed boys at the table. “Um, yeah, Hyun, he’s making dinner. Didn’t I just say that?”

The strangely baffled expression that had been on Donghyun’s face slowly starts to grow into a knowing smile.

“So it’s a date,” he says.

Seungmin looks up from behind his laptop. Sungyoon throws both of his hands in the air as if defending himself from a hoard of angry bees.

“What? No, of course not, the other will be there,” he says, trying not to blush. “It won’t just be us two.”

“Are you sure?” Seungmin asks.

 _... **Am**_ _I sure? Jangjun never actually mentioned the others._

Donghyun chuckles sadistically at the way Sungyoon freezes up. “He’s cooking _you_ dinner,” he reminds him. “None of the others _eat._ ”

“Youngtaek does,” Sungyoon says, too quickly, desperately, “doesn’t he? And he’d be cooking for you as well, if you come.”

Two amused gazes travel across his expression- Sungyoon gulps as Donghyun’s sly smile only grows.

“No,” the other boy says, laughing, “no I don’t think I’ll show.”

“Why not?”

Donghyun lifts one shoulder, grinning widely. “I wasn’t invited. Sounds like it’s meant to be a date, to me.”

“It _does?”_

Even Seungmin nods, and Donghyun laughs at Sungyoon’s horrified expression.

“Jangjun may seem sociable,” the wolf says, “but he’s also kind of...territorial. If he’s comfortable inviting you to the house- and it took me _six months_ to get an invite, remember, and I'm _also_ a wolf- then I’d bet money that his intentions aren’t just cooking you an apology dinner.”

Irritated by the mention of the lycan, Seungmin has gone back to ignoring them, focusing on his computer screen, but Sungyoon gets the sense that he's still listening in.

“What…” Donghyun waits patiently for him to finish the sentence. “What do you think his ‘intentions’ _are_?”

With a groan of exasperation, Donghyun leans back so far in his chair Sungyoon fears for a moment it’ll tip and he’ll go tumbling to the cold kitchen tile below. “He’s showing off, Yoon. He’s so _obviously_ showing off.”

“He said he wanted to apologise!” Sungyoon protests.

“And I'm sure he does! But did he need to apologise by offering to cook for you? No!”

Sungyoon shakes his head and slides further down into his own chair. “Fine, then, fine- how do you think it’s going to go?”

He really shouldn’t have asked- immediately, Donghyun gets to his feet. 

“Here,” he says, passing some imaginary thing over to Seungmin beside him, his voice ridiculously low in a terrible imitation of Jangjun’s. “I’ve made you dinner and showed you how capable and attractive I am, and now you’ll fall for my charms!”

“ _What?”_

Seungmin holds in a laugh and clasps both hands to his chest. “Oh Jangjun,” he says in a dreamy voice, “didn’t you know I was already _hopelessly_ in love with you?”

Donghyun grabs him, and both of them giggle as Seungmin’s spun around on his stool and Donghyun pretends to kiss him, turning their heads ridiculously without actually touching, making horrible smooching noises until Sungyoon whines and throws his spoon at them.

“That’s not going to happen!”

“What part?” Donghyun asks, breathless from laughing. “Yours or his?”

Sungyoon pouts miserably at Seungmin as the elf rearranges his shirt. “How long have you known?”

“Since I learned you’d agreed to Jibeom’s ridiculous idea,” Seungmin confesses, his voice breathy too, for a different reason, cheeks tinted pink. He glances at Donghyun when the wolf sits back down beside him, almost too quick to notice, looking away again as if nothing had happened.

So Sungyoon was right. 

After Donghyun’s explanation, he’d wondered whether there might be more to the story, whether the real reason Seungmin treats Jangjun like he does was something even Donghyun didn’t know. It was only when he’d walked into the kitchen that morning, when he’d seen Jangjun grinning up at him, sharp and at ease and the centre of attention, that'd he'd figured it out. It was never about what Jangjun was, not even about how he might have treated Dongyun, but how Donghyun had treated him. 

Seungmin’s smile wavers as he catches Sungyoon’s eye. Sungyoon wonders if he’s realised that Sungyoon knows, as the look lasts long enough for Donghyun to glance between them in confusion, and Seungmin looks away hastily as if Sungyoon might at any moment announce his jealousy to the room. 

Daeyeol saves them both from any more teasing by announcing his entrance with a knock on the kitchen door. “What’s all the ruckus?” he asks.

Sungyoon glares threateningly at the two of them; not that it does much good.

“Sungyoon got an invite to dinner!” Donghyun cries immediately.

“What?” Daeyeol shuffles into the room, oblivious to the warning looks Sungyoon’s giving the others, a concerned frown lowering his brows. “Why on earth would Jeonghan think you’d accept a _dinner_ invitation? ”

Donghyun smirks and opens his mouth to say something. Sungyoon, too panicked to worry about subtlety, leaps across the table and clamps a hand over his mouth.

“It wasn’t from Jeonghan,” Seungmin says.

“What the hell, Seungmin!” The elf chuckles at him, shrugging, and Daeyeol’s mouth drops open.

The vampire’s eyes widen into saucers. “ _Jangjun_ invited you to dinner?”

Sungyoon’s hands drop away from Donghyun’s face hesitantly. “How did you guess?”

“He’s the only person you know who can cook more than charred toast!” Daeyeol cries, slightly hysteric, dropping into the empty chair beside Sungyoon as the human winces away.

That’s all three of them now, all three of them reacting like this to a simple dinner invitation.

“What’s the big deal?”

Daeyeol scoffs. “Jibeom wouldn’t let me visit until we’d been dating for five months!”

“It took me six,” Donghyun says, competitively.

“I still haven’t been there,” Seungmin adds, looking between them.

This, at last, drives the significance of the situation home. Sungyoon blinks dumbly at him for a few moments, then manages to strangle out, “You haven’t?”

“Surprisingly, Jangjun has never invited me to dinner,” Seungmin says, rather haughtily, and Sungyoon grimaces. Daeyeol looks as if he’s suddenly regretting joining in on their conversation.

“Don’t you think it’s about time that changed?” Sungyoon asks.

Seungmin laughs coldly. “He wouldn’t even let me through the door.”

Donghyun looks up and meets Sungyoon’s gaze. There’s doubt there, in the wolf’s friendly eyes, and Sungyoon feels a hopeful rush, knowing he’s not the only one who thinks Seungmin’s wrong. He doesn’t want to push his luck, doesn’t know whether Seungmin would believe him anyway, but Donghyun shrugs, a playful glint to his eye, and thinks of something to sway him instead.

“Then we’ll just have to sneak you in through the window then,” he jokes, and Seungmin laughs, and Sungyoon thinks together, they might just convince him.

**

“What’re you so happy about?” Jibeom asks, poking his head around the kitchen door. He’d come to investigate the humming he’d heard from upstairs and spotted Jangjun, music blasting from a speaker on the counter beside him, fiddling with the stove and smiling to himself.

“We’re having a guest tonight,” Jangjun says, and Jibeom narrows his eyes and steps further into the room.

“Yeah? What’re you making?”

Without turning around, Jangjun holds up a plastic packet full of some kind of meat and says, “Ribs,” without thinking about it.

“You’re making Yoon dinner? He’s coming _here?_ ”

Jangjun swears and the knife he’d just picked up slips from his fingers and clatters onto the countertop. He hadn’t meant to tell Jibeom who it _was_ they were having over for dinner, but the fact that he’s making human food had been indication enough, which means now Jibeom’s guessed, he’ll be subjected to relentless badgering and teasing until their guest actually shows up.

“Like for a _date_?” Jibeom asks.

Jangjun goes to shake his head and then swears even louder. “Do you think he thought that?”

Jibeom’s mouth drops open. “What would you think if someone offered to make you dinner, Jun, are you crazy?” He pulls a chair out at their dining table and sits, steepling his fingers, elbows on the tabletop. “So what’s the plan?”

“There _is_ no plan,” Jangjun groans, “I just wanted to do something to make up for all of the secrets!”

“So it’s _not_ a date?” Jibeom asks doubtfully. 

“It wasn’t supposed to be!”

Another boy pokes his head around the kitchen door. “What are you yelling about?”

Jibeom waves him over frantically. “Bomin sit down, we have a problem.”

The dinner is forgotten as Jangjun throws the packet down onto the counter and covers his face with his hands. “Not you too.”

Bomin laughs. “What did you do now?”

“Sungyoon’s coming over for dinner,” Jibeom says, ignoring Jangjun’s red eyes glaring into his.

The angel’s brows rise up to his hairline. He studies Jangjun, sounding a little impressed as he asks, “You finally made a move, then?”

“It’s not a date,” Jangjun bites.

Dubious, Bomin eyes the preparations for dinner on the counter behind Jangjun. “What part of this isn’t a date?”

“ _Right_?” Jibeom cries. “What were you thinking!”

“You’ll all be here,” Jangjun cries back, “how can it be a date if you’re all lingering around us, bothering him?”

One corner of Bomin’s mouth turns up in a lazy smirk. He gives Jibeom a conspiratory look that Jibeom misses entirely. “ _Will_ we all be here?”

“Yes,” Jangjun hisses, eyes flashing red again. “I invited Joochan already. None of you are getting out of this.”

“Usually dinner parties include people that can actually _eat the food_ ,” Bomin reminds him.

“Just sit there and look pretty,” Jangjun sighs. “You don’t need to eat anything. But I invited him to apologise for keeping things from him, and we were _all_ a part of that, so everyone should be here.”

“Sounds fun,” Jibeom shrugs, settling more comfortably at the table, no doubt thinking about all of the opportunities he'll have to tease Jangjun throughout the night. “I doubt you’d be able to stop Jaehyun showing up and attaching himself to Sungyoon’s side if you tried, anyway.”

Jangjun groans and pulls at his hair. _Why had he thought this was a good idea, again?_

The doorbell punctuates the end of the thought- no getting out of it now.

“That’ll be Joochan,” Bomin says.

Jibeom rolls his eyes at the formality as he stands. No matter how comfortable Joochan seems to be in their house, or how many times they tell him just to come inside without knocking, he still insists on announcing his arrival with the doorbell, and waiting for one of them to let him in.

“Go check on the other two, would you?” Jangjun asks, when it’s just him and Bomin left in the room. “If Sungyoon wants a tour, Youngtaek’s room should _definitely_ be investigated first. Tell him no more experiments tonight.”

Bomin leaves without argument, probably only to get away from the smell of the food- Joochan, when he steps into the kitchen behind Jibeom, sniffs distastefully at it too.

Jangjun sighs, suddenly remembering all of the reasons Youngtaek and him usually end up just ordering takeout and eating in Youngtaek's room. “Burn some sage, or whatever it is you do,” he tells Jibeom. “If people start complaining about the smell, I’m going to lose my mind.”

As Jibeom turns on his heel and rushes from the kitchen again, muttering under his breath, Joochan takes a seat at the table. “Stressed?”

“I wanted to ask you something,” Jangjun says, instead of answering.

Unfazed, Joochan invites him with a beckoning hand. “By all means.”

The frying pan sizzles behind him as Jangjun turns to face the Fae. He would rather Jibeom not hear this conversation, so he cuts to the chase, swallowing any embarrassment he might have usually felt talking to Joochan about a human boy.

“I burned my hand on Sungyoon’s ring today.”

A small, concerned frown appears on Joochan’s handsome features. “You haven’t healed?”

Jangjun shakes his head. “It’s not that. I’m fine-” he holds the back of his hand in the air, showing the unmarked skin “-it just...well, the ring wasn’t on his finger. I think it was to start with, but then I reached into his pocket, and it was just sitting there. And I was wondering…”

He doesn’t know how to phrase it without sounding ridiculously optimistic, but he doesn’t have to- as usual, Joochan seems to know what he wants to say before he says it, and laughs.

“You were wondering whether it meant something, that he wasn’t wearing it.”

“Does it?” Jangjun asks.

Joochan casts his eyes to the far wall, thoughtful for a moment. “I’ve never saw him without it,” he says eventually, shrugging. “I think it would be reasonable to assume he removed it so he wouldn’t harm you.”

“But that would mean-”

“That he expected to touch you?” Joochan smirks.

The door swings open suddenly and Jibeom whirls back into the room. Joochan's smile softens, as Jangjun's eyes linger hoplelessly on him, and then turns away as if the druid hadn’t just interrupted a conversation.

The grimoire in Jibeom’s hand drops onto the table with a heavy thud. 

“Right!” the redhead exclaims happily, rubbing his palms together. “Let’s see what we can do about the smell.”

Jangjun shakes his head and goes back to cooking. Joochan gets up to stretch his legs and just so happens to find himself by the lycan’s side, at the stove.

“It’s a start,” he says quietly, and Jangjun looks up at him in confusion, expecting to see his eyes on the frying pan, but the Fae’s eyes are on him, and he realises Joochan's not talking about the food. “If he shows up without them tonight, you'll likely have your answer. You might not need my help after all.”

When Jangjun studies him, he raises a challenging brow, grinning. Jangjun laughs, and turns back to the food.


	19. Dinner

“It’s not a date!” Sungyoon cries, for the hundredth time.

From his spot stretched out on top of Sungyoon’s bed, Donghyun giggles. “You’ve been trying on outfits for the last twenty minutes, Yoon.”

Sungyoon sighs and drops onto the bed by Donghyun’s feet, giving up on searching his closet for something he doesn’t loathe entirely. “No ones ever invited me to dinner before,” he mumbles. “And it sounds so formal with the way you’re all talking about it.”

Pulling himself up so they’re sitting side by side, Donghyun shakes his head. “Maybe if it was Joochan or Seungmin hosting, it’d be formal. But it’s just Jangjun. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

As Sungyoon wonders whether that’s really true, and tries to calm the nerves that’d been eating at him since that morning, Donghyun stands and starts sifting through hangers. He stops at a cashmere sweater, considers it for a second and keeps sifting, then gets to the end of the rack where Sungyoon’s workout clothes hangs, and dissolves into giggles.

“Here,” he says, lifting a dark, ripped tank top from the rack and holding it against Sungyoon’s chest.

“That’s just gym gear, Hyun.”

“I’m sure Jangjun wouldn’t mind,” Donghyun says, with a wicked smile.

Sungyoon huffs and shoves the shirt away. “You’re having way too much fun right now.”

“And you need to loosen up,” Donghyun says, sliding the tank top from its hanger, wiggling it in the air.

With a sigh that’s close to a laugh of his own, Sungyoon snatches it from the air.

***

Seungmin gives him a knowing look when they’re heading out the door, eyeing the tank top and dark jeans Donghyun had bullied him into with a sadistic laugh.

Looking over Seungmin’s clothes shows Sungyoon he’s just as under-dressed as he’d expected to be, and he groans. “Seungmin’s wearing a  _ tie.” _

Donghyun emerges from his room with a beanie and a jacket and rolls his eyes. “That’s because Seungmin’s a stiff. Come on, let’s go.” 

Sungyoon tries not to wince and follows Donghyun out of the door, patting Seungmin on the back as he passes.

“Daeyeol’s not coming?” Sungyoon asks, as Seungmin locks the door behind them and they start down the stairs and out into the night. It’s getting dark, the sun just starting to slip over the horizon, and the sky above them is a cloudy, blushing orange, the shadows of the few students they pass stretching long out onto the asphalt.

“He’s already there,” Seungmin says.

“Walked Jibeom back from class,” Donghyun adds, and then makes an exaggerated gagging sound. Seungmin laughs a little, and Sungyoon reaches for the wolf and shoves his beanie low over his eyes.

“Be nice.”

Donghyun laughs and pulls the hat off, hair disrupted crazily until he pulls it back down over his ears. “You’re just mad ‘cause you know I could tease you too.”

“That’s different and you know it,” Seungmin says, surprising Sungyoon by standing up for him. “Jibeom doesn’t have a Fae following at his heels wherever he goes.”

“Yeah, sure,  _ that’s _ why Jangjun’s always with him.” He shakes his head, and leans closer to Seungmin’s side as he says, “Don’t tell me you’re as clueless as Sungyoon, Mini.”

For one terrible moment, Sungyoon thinks the hurt look that flashes across Sengmin’s face is real, but then the elf just rolls his eyes and pulls Donghyun’s beanie over his eyes again, and Sungyoon laughs and shoves him, both of them hooting victory as Donghyun yelps and falls into the grass, taking off in a run as he yells after them.

When Jibeom lets them in the door they’re red-faced from the cold, throats sore with laughter and the chill in the air, and Donghyun collapses gratefully into a sofa as Jibeom takes their jackets, a formality that doesn’t suit him, and is obviously attributed to Seungmin’s presence, which he doesn’t mention.

Daeyeol, however, walks through from the kitchen just as the other two settle more awkwardly on the sofa either side of Donghyun, and his mouth drops open.

“Min?”

Donghyun laughs and rolls his eyes at the same time. “No, Yeol, this is Seungmin’s nicer long lost twin, we just bumped into him outside.”

Jibeom giggles, though Daeyeol still doesn’t seem entirely over the shock of seeing Seungmin perched on one of Jangjun’s couches. “Joochan brought food too,” the druid says, looking at Seungmin. “If you’re hungry.”

Seungmin nods but doesn’t say anything.

The sound of music and conversation float through the kitchen door as Daeyeol vanishes again, and Seungmin shuffles, looking just as out of place as Sungyoon had felt the first time he’d been in this room. Donghyun pats his knee as if sensing the nervousness too, and Sungyoon tries desperately to think of an excuse that would let him leave the two of them alone, but can think of nothing that wouldn’t mean going into the kitchen and bumping into Jangjun.

Then Jibeom steps back into the living room and sees him glancing around. “Would you like the tour?”

Sungyoon jumps to his feet so quickly Donghyun's breath catches in his throat.

Jibeom leads him up the stairwell, the carpet blood red under their feet. 

“It’s a three story,” he says, as they emerge onto a landing with three doors set into white walls, one directly across from them, the other two doors either side of it painted pastel blue. “Youngtaek and I live on this floor, and Bomin, Jangjun and Jaehyun have the third.”

Sungyoon nods politely, not trying to let it show how curious he is about how so many different creatures can live together, and Jibeom steps up to the door to their left and raps his knuckles a few times on the wood.

“Taek?”

There’s no answer, but this seems normal- Jibeom shakes his head, exasperated, but swings the door open anyway, and beckons for Sungyoon to follow. There’s no sight of the room beyond, just a narrow corridor showing a window on the far wall.

His eardrums feel like they’re about to pop as soon as Sungyoon steps through the door. Gasping, he covers his ears, but Jibeom raises a hand in the air and lowers it, slowly, and the music that had been almost deafening before dims to a more bearable volume, so they can hear each other.

“I soundproofed all of our rooms,” Jibeom explains, laughing as Sungyoon takes his hands from his ears hesitantly. “Youngtaek blasts his music constantly, Bomin always has friends over, never mind the explosions-”

“ _ Beom _ !” A voice further into the room whines. “I was working on something!”

“Here we go again,” Jibeom mutters, and walks to the end of the corridor. 

Only a few paces in, the wall to their right falls away and Sungyoon can see the single bed shoved in one corner, the books that litter the floor so thickly he can only see a few sparse patches of floorboard, and a high desk covered in bottles and beakers and notebooks, where Youngtaek’s crouching over something.

Jibeom puts his hands on the other boy’s shoulders and leans in to get a better look.

“What’s that?”

Youngtaek throws himself over the desk and scrambles to hide whatever it is before Jibeom can see it. “It’s not finished!”

Jibeom draws away from the volume of the witch’s voice. There’s a warning tone to his voice as he crosses his arms, and says, “ _ Taek- _ ”

“It’s going to work, alright, it’s almost there!”

Whatever it is, it’s small, and Youngtaek slips it up the sleeve of his sweater and stands, just now realising Sungyoon’s hovering behind Jibeom. He lets out a little squeak of surprise, round eyes even rounder, and Jibeom tuts and tries to smooth the messy tangle of his hair.

“Dinner should be ready soon, get downstairs.”

This time, Youngtaek doesn’t argue about leaving his room, or complain about the food, nodding obediently and shuffling out of the room without needing to be dragged out the door.

“Come on,” Jibeom says, eyeing the beakers and half-full bottles on the desk. “Standing around in Youngtaek’s room is a sure fire way to get third degree burns, or radiation poisoning.”

Sungyoon can’t tell if he’s joking. He rushes to follow him out of the room.

On the other side of the corridor, Jibeom’s opening the other blue door, and he turns to look over his shoulder. “My room,” he says, even though he doesn’t need to, because as they step through the doorway it’s immediately obvious who’s room this is, with ivy curling around the bedframe, plant pots sprouting on every surface, hanging leaves dripping down the walls. The air’s hot, hits Sungyoon with a sudden humidity as he steps inside, like being in a greenhouse. The air smells like earth, and everywhere is green and fresh and alive.

Jibeom’s eyes snag on Sungyoon’s expression, watching the other boy look around. “Like it?”

Sungyoon nods, but before he can say anything else Daeyeol’s voice yells to them from the stairwell, and Jibeom starts.

“Right. Dinner.” He holds an arm out to the door behind him, indicating Sungyoon to leave first. “Shall we?”

There’s no one in the living room now, as Jibeom leads him through it, a fact that shouldn’t make Sungyoon nervous, but still does. He’s been here before, he knows the house and the people and he knows there’s nothing to be wary of, that he should be happy to be here and nothing more, but the door to the kitchen swings open in slow motion, to his mind, and there’s Jangjun with his back to the others, and Sungyoon’s stomach twists even as he forces his eyes away.

Donghyun’s sitting at the table already, talking quietly with Seungmin. When Jibeom passes him he looks up and spots Sungyoon, dragging him over to the seat on his other side. Only once he’s sitting does Sungyoon realise this puts him right next to the only empty chair, the chair that’s obviously been reserved for Jangjun, with Jibeom turned away another seat over, joking with Daeyeol and Jaehyun. Then there’s Bomin, then Youngtaek, blinking across at Sungyoon with the same nervous look as ever, and Joochan- who surprises Sungyoon by leaning to whisper something in Seungmin’s ear, making the elf throw his head back in laughter, 

Sungyoon tugs on Donghyun’s shoulder, and the wolf turns toward him. “I didn’t know they knew each other,” he says quietly, and Donghyun follows his line of sight to where Seungmin is chattering to Joochan and chuckles.

“Yeah. They’re close- it’s only because Joochan’s so close to Jangjun that you’ve never saw them together.”

As if summoned by his name, Jangjun startles Sungyoon by turning from the oven and setting a plate in front of him, arms either side of Sungyoon before he even realises he’s moved. Jangjun sets a similar plate in front of Donghyun and turns back to the counters like he hadn’t noticed the reaction, but Donghyun laughs behind his hand- Sungyoon nudges him, and he schools his expression. 

“And for our unexpected visitor,” Jangjun says, as he steps around Donghyun with a plate in either hand, “I’m afraid I can’t claim to be the chef, but Joochan brought enough to share.”

Seungmin glances at him, and Joochan gives an elegant, secretive kind of smile as Jangjun sets their dishes down. “I had a feeling you’d show.”

The food Joochan had brought doesn’t seem like ‘dinner,’ to Sungyoon, little purple tarts with white berries piled high on top, that bleed pink when they’re cut, nothing Sungyoon has ever saw before. Daeyeol and Bomin eat nothing, but seem content to watch the others, Daeyeol from a dark glass and keeping up his conversation with Jibeom, who picks at a tart identical to Joochan’s, and Bomin rolling his eyes at Jaehyun’s dinner, unsurprisingly fish, though Sungyoon has no idea where it came from.

There’s four of them, in the end, that eat what Jangjun prepared, ribs in some kind of sticky sauce that smells sweet and makes Sungyoon’s stomach rumble, lots of veg, plenty to go around. 

“Protein,” Jangjun explains, as he sits down to his own plate. “I hear you’re running, on Saturday.”

_ Crap. The sports day. How have I already forgotten about that? _

He forces himself to nod as if there’s nothing to worry about. “Are you taking part?”

Jangjun nods and Sungyoon realises just how close they are as he reaches for his glass and their arms brush against each other. Jangjun doesn’t seem to notice.

“I told you they need me to win all of their medals, didn’t I?” he turns to give Sungyoon a teasing smirk, and Donghyun scoffs.

“I hate that you’re right.”

Sungyoon glances at the others around the table. “No one else is taking part?”

Jibeom giggles. “Can you imagine Joochan in a tracksuit?”

The Fae graces him with a closed-mouth smile as he sets his glass down. “It’d be too easy,” he says, to Sungyoon, and both Donghyun and Jangjun roll their eyes.

“We’ll come watch your races,” Bomin says, and Youngtaek nods so enthusiastically he drops his fork and sends it rattling onto his plate. 

“It’s getting colder,” Sungyoon says, shaking his head, “you don’t need to come watch me run.”

“Who said I was coming for you?” Bomin says immediately, though there’s a sly grin on his face that shows he’s kidding, and then he adds, “I just don’t want to miss Jangjun tripping over his own feet and eating dirt.”

Jangjun just laughs. “That’s not going to happen.”

“It might if we pray hard enough,” Youngtaek says, folding his hands above his dinner. Bomin shoves him hard out of his seat, scowling, though when Youngtaek blinks up at him from the kitchen tile, his anger gives way to delighted giggles. 

Yup. Sungyoon’s starting to realise his first impression of Bomin might have been completely wrong. 

The rest of the dinner goes like that, some of them eating, some of them not, but always a constant flow of conversation, Jibeom’s happy chattering, Joochan’s stories, jokes and teases and so much laughter that Sungyoon finishes eating and sits back, just listening to them all, their closeness, a strange surrealness to the scene, until Donghyun leans closer to him again and drags him into the conversation. Seungmin’s quieter than the others, and Sungyoon notices he’s loosened his tie, throwing glances ever now and again to Donghyun when he thinks no one’s watching, but there are no arguments, and when the dishes are being lifted from the table and Jaehyun’s pulling him into the living room, Sugyoon thinks they can definitely count the night as a success.

He shuffles as Jaehyun pulls him onto a sofa, not dropping his arm when they’re sat side by side, both of his curled around Sungyoon’s elbow, making Bomin sigh and tut at him as the angel takes the armchair.

“Let him breath, Jae.”

Sungyoon laughs as Jaehyun sticks out his tongue, and pats one of the other boy’s hands. “It’s alright.” Deja vu hits him as Jaehyun sighs happily, the sound somehow reminding him of the purr of a certain tabby cat when he’d petted it, not knowing what it really was.

He’s drawn out of the thought as Jiebom and Youngtaek step through from the kitchen, leaving Joochan and Jangjun with the dishes, talking in hushed voices.

“Taek that might not be such a-”

“I told you it’s ready, it’s going to work!”

“What is?” 

Both of them look down at him fast enough that Sungyoon knows the intuition that whatever it is they’re arguing about has something to do with him had been right.

They exchange uncertain glances, but Jibeom sighs, and Youngtaek apparently takes that as permission. He brings something out of his pocket and steps forward so Sungyoon can see it.

It’s a necklace, a simple flat circle of silver strung through with a delicate chain, and Youngtaek waves it in the air until Sungyoon takes it from him.

“Jangjun picked it out.”

Sungyoon looks up at him, surprised. “Jewellery?”

“It’s iron,” Jibeom explains, arms crossed, standing behind Youngtaek. “He thought it might help with Jeonghan." 

"Fae hate iron," Jaehyun adds helpfully.

_ This is what Youngtaek had been studying at his desk? _

“What did you do to it?”

Youngtaek beams at him. “Enchanted it.”

Bomin sighs from his spot on the armchair. “Here we go.”

“It’s going to work!”

Donghyun eyes the necklace in Sungyoon’s hand uneasily. “What’s it supposed to do?”

“It’s a sensor,” Youngtaek says. “It’ll tell you when you’re near a Fae.”

All of the times Jeonghan had been hiding just inside a building for him, catches him on his way out of class, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, they could all be avoided, if this worked. 

Sungyoon pulls it on and studies the little silver disk. “‘Tell me’ how?”

“It gets warmer.”

“Well there’s an easy way to test it, isn’t there?” Daeyeol says. He yells Joochan’s name, and the living room goes quiet as the kitchen door opens, and Joochan enters with Jangjun behind him.

He frowns, and goes to ask a question, but Sungyoon gasps as the silver disk suddenly glows white-hot against his skin. He drops it, feeling the heat through his shirt only for a second before Donghyun grabs it at the same time as Jangjun shoves Joochan away, back through the kitchen door. 

Donghyun pulls the necklace from him and tosses it onto the coffee table. Sungyoon jolts as someone grabs his hand and pulls it towards them- Jangjun, suddenly in front of him, glaring at the burn marks on Sungyoon’s fingertips with scarlet eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Youngtaek says, voice shaking, “it was only supposed to-”

“He can’t _heal_ _this_ , Taek,” Jangjun bites, “you should have been _sure_!”

“I was!” Youngtaek cries back, the air tense and stifling with the brewing argument. “It shouldn’t have did that-”

Sungyoon pulls his hand from Jangjun’s. “I’m fine.” The burns sting, the pain pulsing with his heartbeat, and the skin at the top of two of his fingers is raised and bone-white, but he curls his hand into a fist, hiding the marks, and gives Youngtaek a reassuring smile. “It was a nice idea.”

Youngtaek collapses onto the coffee table. He glares down at the necklace beside him, mumbling, “It was only supposed to get a little warmer.”

Jibeom sighs and pats him on the shoulder. “I’ll work on it with you.”

More to avoid the worried gazes clinging to him than because of the pain, Sungyoon darts back into the kitchen, holding his fingertips under icy water from the faucet, leaning against the counter. Someone follows him through.

“Is there really nothing you can do, to-” Jangjun cuts off, and gestures to the hand Sungyoon’s holding under the water.

“It’ll be gone by tomorrow,” Sungyoon says, knowing that’s probably not true. For someone with such impossible abilities, they’re all far more concerned about a little burn than he’d thought they’d be. He guesses it must be strange for them, when the wound doesn’t immediately heal.

“I can hardly feel it anymore.”

Jangjun hums a little unhappily, resting on the counter on the other side of the sink, staring at the water. “How is that supposed to help?”

Sungyoon laughs. “It probably doesn’t,” he admits, and the faucet squeaks as he turns it off. He shakes water from his fingers, but Jangjun’s already reaching for a dish towel, and he surrenders as the dark haired boy reaches for his hand and dabs the water away, leaning closer to inspect the burn marks. They’ve already started to become less noticeable, but just when Jangjun seems satisfied, and starts to release him, his grip tightens again.

“What are these?”

A fingertip ghosts across his wrist, and Sungyoon shivers. He glances down, confused, and sees a peppering of blue bruises at his wrist that he’d missed, impressions of fingerprints that he immediately places.

For the second time that night, he pulls his hand from Jangjun’s. “It’s nothing.”

But Jangjun’s eyes flicker to the door to the living room, remembering something else. “Did I do that?”

“What? No, of course not, it wasn’t you.”

A muscle jumps in Jangjun’s jaw as he understands. “When did he do that?”

He’d not going to drop it. And anyway, it’s not as if Sungyoon really wants to defend Jeonghan, anyway. “He didn’t want me to leave this morning.”

Jangjun frowns. “Why were you with him this morning?”

“I didn’t  _ want _ to be,” Sungyoon opposes. “It was after you left. I was studying somewhere and he found me, grabbed my wrist when I tried to walk away. Joochan helped me out.”

Another glance at the door- more irritated this time. “He didn’t tell me that.”

“It’s nothing-”

jangjun shakes his head. “It’s not  _ nothing, _ Yoon, he left marks!”

Sungyoon clasps his hands behind his back. “I hadn’t even noticed them.”

There's a tense silence, and though he wants nothing more than to look away, Sungyoon matches Jangjun's stare, smiling, and the lycan relents with a sigh.

“Damn Fae,” Jangjun mutters. Sungyoon slaps his arm, and he raises a brow. “You’re defending Joochan now?”

The bruises put things in a new perspective- Sungyoon shrugs, suddenly aware of the difference between the two Fae, the one that had bruised him and the one that had been waiting, quietly, ready to intervene.

“He’s not so bad.”

After a moment, Jangjun lets out a breathy chuckle. “No, I guess not. Listen...I’m sorry about the necklace. It was my idea, I just didn’t think Taek would give you it without testing it first.”

“Really, it’s fine. It’s just a pity it didn’t work.”

Jangjun nods in agreement, then holds up a hand. “Give me a minute,” he says, already stepping away, and Sungyoon hesitates by the sink, alone in the kitchen, unsure of what to do with himself, though it seems like only a few seconds until Jangjun’s stepping back inside, beckoning for Sungyoon to hold out a hand. When he does, Jangjun drops a handful of rings into his palm.

“Iron,” he says, as Sungyoon studies them. “I stopped wearing them because of Joochan.” A small, teasing smile twists his lips. “Maybe you could replace those silver ones you like so much.”

Sungyoon winces, but Jangjun shakes his head, laughing. He flattens one hand on top of Sungyoon’s, the rings between their palms, fingertips touching, as if showing the jewellery won’t burn him, and Sungyoon jolts at the touch and sends a few rings flying. They bouncing off of the kitchen tile thunderously to his ears, and he can feel his face heat up as Jangjun draws back, bemused. Sungyoon ducks to pick the rings up, trying to avoid questioing, and Donghyun steps through the door.

“What’re you two doing in here?”


	20. Piper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song rec! its not kpop, but i rediscovered Told You So by Paramore a few days ago and have been playing it on repeat whilst writing these chapters. its a jam 👌👌

There’s soft, sorrowful music floating across the rooftop. A group of students congregate around a figure leaning back against the half-wall, eyes closed, charming music from the instrument set upon his shoulder, the picture of peace, as if he had forgotten about his adoring crowd the moment the music began. They watch him still, a dazed film over their eyes, swaying subconsciously to the sad tune he plays, unable to look away. 

Another boy steps out into the sunlight, heels clicking on stone, dark coat whipping in the breeze, and scowls at the group as he makes his way to their corner, ignoring the enchanted crowd and stepping up to the edge of the roof, elbows resting on the wall running around it’s edge.

“What are you supposed to be, the damned pied piper?”

The player opens his clever eyes, giving the dark haired boy a disapproving look as his song comes to an end. Jangjun has his sunglasses perched on his nose again, hiding his eyes, but even with them Joochan can tell he’s glaring, feels the darkness of his gaze as he turns it away and out across the campus grounds below.

“Good morning to you too,” Joochan sighs, as he lowers his bow. The group he’d gathered peer closer at him in the sudden silence, and he shoos them, not bothering to drop the glamour and dismiss them more kindly, sharpening it just slightly so they don’t ask questions, and trail back to the door and down from the roof without a sound.

Jangjun half-turns to watch them go over his shoulder, and shakes his head. “You need to find a new hobby, Chan. People aren’t playthings.”

Joochan settles against the wall beside him. “It was you who wanted them gone. I was only playing them some music.”

A moment or two goes by as Jangjun shakes his head again, radiating irritation but biting his tongue, before Joochan tires of waiting and sighs, giving in.

“What is it?”

“What’s what?” Jangjun says immediately.

Unimpressed, J oochan raises a brow. “What’s causing the little thundercloud hanging above your head?”

Jangjun huffs and turns around, putting his back to the wall and crossing his arms. “He wasn’t there when I walked to his dorm this morning.”

_ Oh dear _ . Though Joochan understands the meaning behind Jangjun’s words already, he knows Jangjun wouldn’t be here if he didn’t need to vent, so he asks anyway.

“Wasn’t there?”

“He’d already left,” Jangjun scoffs, looking down at where his fingers intertwine, his hands hanging in the air beyond the roof. “Daeyeol said he must have rushed out before they all woke up.”

“I see. And you think you might have scared him off, last night?”

“Thanks for putting it so gently, Joochan,” Jangjun mutters, taking his glasses off and setting them down on the wall. “Really tried to spare my feelings there.”

“Don’t take it out on me,” the Fae says calmly. “I offered to help, did I not?”

Jangjun huffs a laugh. Then he thinks about the expressions of Joochan’s spectators, of the way everyone around Joochan hangs on his every word when he wants them to, and often when he doesn’t, and turns to study his friend’s expression. Joochan returns his gaze, not reacting, blank and expectant.

Jangjun grabs the bow from his hand with a roll of his eyes. “Give me that.”

The bright haired boy chuckles, still holding the violin loosely in his other hand. “I thought you said my advice was outdated and cliched nonsense.”

“It is,” Jangjun insists. He holds the bow up to his face and narrows his eyes at it. “But how hard can it be to play violin?”

Joochan just laughs, and hands him the instrument. Jangjun’s jaw is still tense as the Fae fusses over him, pushing his shoulders back, angling his elbow, telling him how to place his fingers, but there are no more snide remarks, and he waits patiently when Joochan to step back and assess his posture.

“Let’s hear it then,” he says when he’s satisfied. “I’m sure we will both be glad that I cleared the rooftop in a moment or two.”

Jangjun rolls his eyes again and shifts his weight. The first drag of the bow across the strings isn’t as agonising as Joochan had expected it to be, really almost a pleasant sound even to his ears, but they don’t have the time to figure out whether they had just stumbled upon one of Jangjun’s random talents before there’s a familiar voice giggling up the stairs, and the note cuts off in a shocked screech.

“Is that-”

Jangjun’s eyes are wide. “That’s Sungyoon.”

“Did you tell him to meet you here?”

“Of course not, I haven’t saw him all day!” Jangjun whispers.

There’s a few seconds before he’ll reach the top of the stairs and step out onto the roof and spot them. Jangjun attempts to shove the bow and violin back into Joochan’s hands, but the Fae seems to have other ideas, and steps away, warding him off, and Jangjun’s left to hold them out from his chest as if they were trying to attack him. He supposes he might just be able to put them down somewhere and hope Sungyoon doesn’t see them- but what if he does, and asks what they’d been doing, or worse, asks Joochan to play and all of Jangjun’s efforts will be for nothing-

The violin and bow go soaring off of the roof before he’s even really conscious of throwing them.

Joochan rushes to the edge just to see them hit the asphalt far below and shatter into a splintered mess.

He turns to gape at Jangjun just as two figures step out onto the rooftop.

“Have you lost your mind?” Joochan cries.

Jangjun grabs him by the arms and shushes him desperately. 

“What’s going on?”

Both of them spin too fast in the direction of Jibeom’s inquiring voice. 

There he is, standing just behind the redhead, glancing between the two of them with a startled expression, dark silver hair lighter in the crisp sunlight on the rooftop, arms crossed over his chest against the wind, cheekbones colored pink by the cold.

“Nothing,” Jangjun says breathlessly.

Joochan recovers valiantly quickly from his surprise and leans casually back against the wall. “To what do we owe the pleasure of a visit?” he asks, and Jibeom starts walking towards them again, frowning but thankfully having enough sense not to ask what argument they’d just walked in on.

“I wanted to show Yoon the rooftop,” he says, as the human lags behind him, looking in every direction, at the small patches of grass and the corner full of potted plants, the skyline stretching in every direction. 

“Wow.”

Jibeom gives him a pleased smile. “Pretty neat, right?” he hoists himself up onto the ledge, swinging his legs. “Though it’ll be getting cold soon. The wind’s stronger up here, so when winter gets here it’s off limits, usually.”

Absently, Sungyoon nods, and his gaze slides from the skyline to Joochan, and then Jangjun.

He can't help it: without thinking, he says, “I didn’t see you this morning.”

Sungyoon folds his hands behind his back and shuffles. “Um, yeah, I- I wanted to get some training in. Before the races.”

“Oh!” The excited exclamation sounds only partially genuine, but Jibeom at least is trying to lighten the strange mood. “That’s tomorrow, right?” His gaze flickers across Sungyoon’s face, his smile a strange mix of gentle and teasing. “Nervous?”

“Not really,” Sungyoon says. If Joochan smiles at him as if he knows that’s a lie, he pretends not to notice. “Just wondering whether this is normal, for colleges. I thought sports days were kind of a middle-school thing.”

“There’s another school like our’s nearby,” Joochan explains. “That is, another school that primarily accepts...  _ people _ like us.”

“You’re- wait,” Sungyoon laughs, “that means the people we’re competing against aren’t-”

“Human?” Jibeom finished. Sungyoon nods dazedly, and the druid laughs gleefully. “No, not usually, but that’s what makes it interesting. Every year there’s a bet on whether the vampires or the werewolves will win the 500 metres, protests against letting the sirens on the swim teams, etc. etc.”

Sungyoon’s suddenly regretting his confidence when he’d volunteered for a few races. But he usually wins, in practice. Which means the track team must be humans like him, right? Except- Jangjun’s part of it too.

_ Why has he never thought to ask this before? _

“How...how many humans  _ are _ there, here?”

The others turn to look at Joochan for an answer- the Fae considers it with a tilt of his head. “Including you? There’s...fourteen.”

Sungyoon’s mouth drops open. “ _ In the whole school? _ ”

The nod Joochan gives him is perfectly nonchalant, as if he doesn’t see what’s so surprising. “They all already knew about the supernatural when they were admitted. You were an exception.”

It really must not be weird to them, Sungyoon thinks. To them,  _ he’s _ the minority, the one human in a sea of creatures he hadn’t known existed before he’d walked into Daeyeol’s room as one version of himself and walked out again as another. Which means that tomorrow he’s going to be the minority too, one slow, weak human amongst monsters.

He’s already stepping away when he says, “I should get to the gym.”

“Again?” Jibeom frowns. “Shouldn't you eat-”

“I’ll get something,” Sungyoon promises, giving them all a small smile in turn, as a goodbye.

Jibeom hesitates, but then jumps off of the wall and skips to keep up as Sungyoon reaches the door leading from the rooftop. “At least let me walk you.”

There’s a moment of quiet on the roof as the footsteps on the stairs fade away. 

As soon as he’s sure they’re really gone, Jangjun drops his head into his hands and rushes to say, “OK, I’m sorry-”

“My violin, Jun!” Joochan shrieks. 

Jangjun groans. “I’ll buy you  _ three _ violins if you push me off of this roof right now,” he says, and Joochan tuts at him. “What am I going to do, Chan?”

“With what?”

The dark haired boy turns and collapses against the half-wall now in front of him. “With  _ Yoon _ ,” he groans. “He’s still so out of his depth here! After I scared him away last night he finds out he’s surrounded by people like us? How are we supposed to help him with this?”

Joochan shrugs. “We tell him what he wants to know. And we make sure he knows there’s nothing to fear.”

Dark eyes find his, doubtful. “D’you really believe that?” Jangjun asks.

“There’s nothing to fear if  _ we’re _ with him,” Joochan corrects. “And I’m sure he can handle himself more than we give him credit for.”

Jangjun sighs, and shakes his head, watching a few figures walking far below them, arm in arm. “Should we let him race?”

“I don’t think we could stop him,” Joochan laughs. “So what if he loses? I’m sure he’d collect himself.” Jangjun doesn’t reply, still watching the figures moving below, and Joochan rolls his eyes, and shoves his shoulder with his own. “Besides,” he says, more lightly, “if he’s horribly torn up I’m sure you could help tend to his bruised ego.”

Jangjun shoves him, immediately, huffing in annoyance, but Joochan laughs, and when he turns back to look out across the grounds, his lips tug up into a reluctant smile. Satisfied, Joochan leans beside him.

“So,” he says, “is your money on the vampires or the wolves?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a slightly shorter chapter than normal, but if all goes to plan there'll be another one up tomorrow! :)


	21. Spectators

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Happy Halloween! 🎃🎃)

  
  


Sungyoon is awake and jittery before the sun has even risen. 

At least one good thing has come of knowing all about the strange abilities of his flatmates- Daeyeol no longer pretends as if he’s sleeping, in the late and early hours, and his door is always open. Sungyoon slips into his room at dawn and the older boy does his best to calm his nerves, talking about the book he’d been reading as the rest of them slept- or tried to sleep- or his thoughts on the last movie he’d watched, or anything but the day ahead of them. Though he never quite manages to completely pull his thoughts away from the dewy field awaiting him, or the sudden influx of supernaturals the sports day will bring, Sungyoon is grateful for the effort anyway, and he’s able to stomach a light breakfast at Daeyeol’s coaching, despite his residual anxiety.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Donghyun asks sympathetically, after Daeyeol has shaken him awake and forced him into the shower room, hair still dripping wet and eyes puffy with sleep, but trying his best to appear awake and aware for Sungyoon’s sake, since Seungmin is his usual quiet self this morning.

“I slept a little,” Sungyoon mumbles, leaning against the counter as the others at the kitchen table nibble at their breakfasts, Donghyun gnawing at a few slices of bacon, Seungmin abstently picking at a bowl of fruit with a fork.

“There’s no need to be nervous,” Daeyeol says kindly, for the hundredth time that morning. “You’ll do well.”

“How do you know?” Sungyoon can’t help asking. It’s not as if Daeyeol had even seen him run before, except the few times he’d spotted Sungyoon jogging around campus to keep himself moving, which surely isn’t any indication of his skill.

The vampire just shrugs, and pats Sungyoon’s back gently. “I just know.”

The field has been freshly cut and painted, the bleachers either side of the tracks already starting to fill with spectators, and they walk across it together,Daeyeol chattering constantly and Donghyun uncharacteristically vibrant for the early hour, cracking jokes, giggling at Daeyeol’s feeble attempts at humour, clearly trying his best to lighten the mood. He’s funny when he wants to be, though, and Sungyoon finds that even when he’s so obviously joking around for Sungyoon’s benefit, it lifts his spirits anyway. He’s giggling, when they spot the others, Jibeom by the bleachers giving them a sharp, long whistle and waving them over.

“Ready to kick some ass?” he yells, as soon as they’re within earshot, and Sungyoon groans and picks up the pace, trying to reach the bleachers before any more yells.

“Don’t expect too much of me,” he pleads, and Daeyeol and Jibeom both laugh at him.

“He’s nervous,” Seungmin says, in a whisper, cupping one hand over his mouth even though he doesn’t lower his volume enough for Sungyoon not to hear. The human huffs, and swats at him, sending him giggling into Daeyeol.

Youngtaek looks up from where he’d been fiddling with a banner printed with the school name to peer at Sungyoon’s expression. His wide eyed, ruffled looks make Sungyoon’s building calm plummet back to rock bottom again.

“Nervous?” Youngtaek echoes.

Though it’s very clearly a lie, Sungyoon thinks it might make them all feel a little better, so he says, “I’m not nervous.”

“You sure?” a familiar voice behind them says. 

They turn to see Jangjun strolling casually toward the bleachers, Bomin and Joochan at his heels. His long black coat has been shed in favour of the track uniform, a blue jersey with his name printed across the back and down one sleeve, matching tracksuit bottoms in the same cobalt shade.

“I’d be nervous if I were you,” he says, “it’s going to be _really_ embarrassing how fast I leave you in the dirt.”

Sungyoon half-laughs, half-scoffs. “You’ve never seen me run before,” he reminds Jangjun. “You’re really that confident you can win?” He’d been worried about all of the non-human competition, but somehow Jangjun challenging him is different.

Jangjun shrugs, not saying anything, though the smirk on his lips says enough already. He knows it’s just Jangjun’s way of putting him at ease, this sharp, amiable teasing, but the old competitiveness is kicking in too, in response to the joke. It overrides his nerves more than all of the kindnesses and jokes and reassurances.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Seungmin says, leaning into Sungyoon’s side. “All you need to do is throw a ball in the opposite direction and say _fetch,_ and you’ll beat him easy.”

Jangjun barks a laugh that almost sounds genuine. Daeyeol shoves Seungmin hard enough to detach him from Sungyoon’s side. 

“Play nice,” he hisses.

“Anyway, you guys aren’t supposed to be competing against each other!” Jaehyun says.

Sungyoon jumps. He hadn’t seen the boy at all (judging from Youngtaek’s yelp, he hadn’t been the only one surprised at the sudden appearance) but now he’s only a pace away, stepping away from the bottom row of the bleachers. “You’re on the same team!”

Youngtaek frowns and ducks his head between his legs to see below the bleachers. Jaehyun giggles.

Jangjun shrugs. He gives Sungyoon a gentle shove on the shoulder. “There’s only one winner.”

“All bark and no bite,” Bomin mutters, low enough for only Sungyoon to hear him as he walks past, sliding into a seat beside Youngtaek.

Sungyoon laughs, and Jangjun narrows his eyes at them both.

The spectators take their seats on the bottom row again, Youngtaek between Bomin and Jaehyun, Joochan and Seungmin and Donghyun sitting on the second row above them. Daeyeol remains standing, leaning against the railing by Jibeom’s chair, and Sungyoon and Jangjun linger on the grass, too full of energy to sit.

Jibeom asks, “When are the races, anyway?”

It’s Daeyeol that answers. “An hour, pretty much.”

They all eye Sungyoon bouncing on the soles of his feet without turning to him.

“What...are we going to do until then?” someone asks, and Sungyoon, who’s very much aware of all of them staring, sighs and shakes out his limbs.

“I was- well, I think I should go warm up.”

Jangjun raises a brow, blinking for a minute as if he’s trying to figure out if he misunderstood anything, before he asks, “For an hour?”

Sungyoon nods. “You weren’t going to hit the gym first?”

“My plans were more like ‘ _intimidate the competition’_ and ‘ _keep Youngtaek from setting fire to the bleachers’.”_ As he says this last part, he snatches something out of the witch's hand, something that looks suspiciously like a lighter, and the ashy-haired boy pouts up at him, annoyed. 

“Well,” Sungyoon says, “I’m going to go warm up.”

When he starts to step away, Jangjun takes his hands out of his pockets, as if he’s going to follow him. “D’you want me to come wi-”

The sudden, unbidden image of himself red-faced and sweating, hair mussed and out of breath and far too nervous than the situation permits flashes through Sungyoon’s mind.

“No! No, that’s- I mean, I’ll probably just do some stretching, I won’t be long.”

The others look up at him for a long moment. None of them say anything.

Jangjun just shrugs, and lets him go.

Sungyoon practically sprints all the way to the gym, which isn’t far, but his heart is thundering too loud in his ears by the time he finds an empty corner, and he bends double, hands on his knees, as he catches his breath. There are other people warming up already, lifting weights, jogging on treadmills, and he recognises faces from his classes, but he’s not really friend;y with any of them. He’s regretting- only slightly- not letting Jangjun come with him, for the first few minutes, spent self-consciously stretching in the corner of the room, trying not to be too obvious in eyeing the equipment, waiting for something to be free, _anything_ , just to take his mind off of the races ahead. But everyone here seems to be doing the same thing as him, killing time before their competitions, and no one gives up a piece of equipment long enough for him to step in. After another slow ten minutes of stretching, he abandons the idea, and figures a walk around the department might still keep him moving enough to distract himself.

That’s a mistake, of course. He’s too distracted worrying over the competitions that he forgets to look out for the thing he’s usually worrying about- a certain boy who’s on the swim team, who's competing today too, and who bumps into him almost immediately as he steps outside.

“Oh, Sungyoon!”

Jeonghan has his long hair tied away from his face, the jersey marking him as part of a sports team tied tightly around his waist. Sungyoon leaps away to avoid colliding with him, dropping his own jersey, and the lilac-haired boy laughs and scoops it up before he can get it back.

“Careful,” he says, smiling as he ties Sungyoon’s jersey above his own. “Don’t want to lose that before your race.”

Sungyoon swallows an irritated groan and gestures for his jacket. “Can I-”

Jeonghan throws an arm over his shoulders, pulling him into his side, and starts marching them towards the field.

“Nervous?” he asks. “This must be the first real race you’ve ran for the team, right? Think you’ll get a medal?”

Though they’re the same height, and Sungyoon at a glance looks stronger, the other boy isn’t human, and now more than ever that’s obvious, as he pulls Sungyoon after him at a pace quick enough to make him stumble, unable to break the hold. 

“I was just coming to find you,” the other boy’s saying. “You’re racing soon, right? I’ll be on the bleachers.”

They’re stepping onto the field when Sungyoon manages to regain his balance, and shoves an elbow into the Fae’s side. Jeonghan gasps, and releases him, one hand going up to his ribs, where the blow had landed.

“I-”

“I’ll have that back, please,” Sungyoon says, trying to keep his voice from shaking, a hand extended in the air between them. Jeonghan glances down at it, almost glaring, the surprise in his expression quickly darkening.

Over Jeonghan’s shoulder, Sungyoon can just make out the others across the field, someone pointing in their direction, heads turning to look.

“You know,” Jeonghan’s saying, “the swim contests are just after the races. You could come support me after you win.”

“No thanks,” Sungyoon says simply, not trusting himself to say anything else. “Can I have my jersey back?”

Jeonghan laughs, and unties it from around his waist. “Say you’ll come watch the competition,” he says, without offering it.

Sungyoon’s so irritated he can hardly for words. He snatches for his jacket, but Jeonghan evades him easily, and he throws his hands in the air. “I don’t want to-”

“Is there a problem?”

Jangjun’s standing to the side, suddenly, only a pace away, smiling between them as if oblivious to the tension hanging in the air, Jeonghan’s scowl, Sungyoon’s flustered, wide eyed look. Well, he would look completely oblivious, if it weren’t for the stark scarlet color of his irises. Though his smile is stubbornly nonchalant, the red betrays his anger.

“I was just wishing Sungyoon luck, before his race,” Jeonghan says icily.

“My jersey,” Sungyoon repeats, his hand in the air, and Jangjun notices for the first time that he’s not wearing it, that the purple-haired Fae is holding one, and has another slung around his hips.

Jeonghan laughs. “Sure, sure.”

Sungyoon snatches the jersey with a glare, already stepping toward Jangjun. The Fae doesn’t look as angry as he should.

“Wait.” 

Jangjun gestures for the jersey. Sungyoon frowns, confused, but surrenders it, and Jangjun unfurls it from the ball it had been rolled into, and turns it so they can all read the name on the back.

“Strange,” Jangjun says, looking up at Jeonghan from over the top of the jacket, “I could have sworn that was your name.” The Fae scowls at him, eyes dark, and Jangjun hurls the jersey back at him, hitting him square in the chest. “The right jersey, now.”

Jeonghan’s eyes don’t leave his as he hands over Sungyoon’s jersey.

“Good luck today,” the Fae says, all acid. “Try not to hurt yourself, when you’re racing.”

Jangjun gives him a smile, but then ignores him, reaching for Sungyoon’s hand and entwining their fingers, making the movement as obvious as possible.

“Come on.”

Sungyoon lets himself be pulled across the grass, back to the bleachers. Jangjun drops his hand as Daeyeol meets them half-way, concern plain in his face.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” Jangjun growls, before Sungyoon can think of anything to say, and the vampire’s eyes flicker to him, sharp.

“Jun, your eyes.”

“It was just a mixup,” Sungyoon says, finding his voice as Jangjun’s eyes fade to brown again, though it’s slightly too loud even to his own ears. “With the jerseys.”

Jangjun laughs, a surprising, bitter sound, that has both of them turning to him in shock.

“It wasn’t a _mix up,_ ” he bites. “He knew exactly what he was doing.” 

“Jerseys?” Daeyeol echoes. They’re close to the bleachers again now, and Donghyun catches an unpleasant, angry scent coming from Jangjun in waves. He’d just caught Daeyeol’s question, and he frowns only for a moment before a realisation flickers across his face.

“Don’t tell me,” he says, and Jangjun nods, still scowling.

Daeyeol lets out a sad, breathy sound of understanding, and Donghyun and Jangjun share a look. Sungyoon looks between them.

“What?” when none of them answer him, he raises his voice. “ _What_ , What is it? What don’t I know?”

Donghyun hesitates, but Jangjun exhales slowly, one long sigh that turns into a white cloud in the chill air, and seems to calm himself down a little. 

“It’s a- Christ, this is going to sound weird.”

“Tell me,” Sungyoon says, starting to get annoyed, and Jangjun shakes his head, but obeys.

“It’s a scent thing,” he sighs, pointing to the jersey still balled at Sungyoon’s side. “Your scents all over that thing. If he wore it, and you wore his-” he cuts off, shaking his head again, and Donghyun grimaces, wrinkling his nose. Daeyeol takes his arm and pulls him away.

“O-oh,” Sungyoon says, awkward, suddenly aware that it’s just the two of them now, and Jangjun’s staring at him intently. “Does-does that actually bother you?”

Jangjun studies him for another long moment, and then grunts noncommittally. “It might, if I was a werewolf. Lycan don’t care about that stuff as much.”

Sungyoon hums, and fishes his phone from his pocket, opening the notes app and typing furiously. Curious, Jangjun leans in just in time to see _scents more a werewolf thing_ before Sungyoon’s shoving his phone back in his pocket.

“You’re taking notes?” he laughs, and Sungyoon grimaces. “There isn’t going to be a pop quiz, you know.”

Sungyoon shrugs. “I just want to understand. Donghyun can’t tell me everything.”

It shouldn’t be so endearing, but it is, and Jangjun watches Sungyoon shuffle under his gaze for a while, wondering what else is on his list, when a sudden commotion erupts around them. The competition’s here, a trail of unfamiliar faces in purple jerseys trailing across the field, laughing and waving at friends on the bleachers or waiting in the grass, booing and cheering in equal measure.

“The races should start soon,” Sungyoon says, still watching the students cross the field. 

Jangjun nods, and pulls him gently over to the spot the others had settled into on the bleachers.

Jibeom passes them both water bottles and Youngtaek rustles a paper banner supportively in the air, as they watch the stretches and warmups going on by the track. 

Seungmin nods his head in the direction of the bleachers opposite them. “Look.”

It’s easy to spot him, motionless amongst the laughing students around him, straight-backed and scowling. Jeonghan, watching them, waiting for the race to begin just as he said he would. 

Jangjun scoffs, rolling his eyes. Before Sungyoon can offer any reassurances he doesn’t mean, the lycan’s shrugging out of his jersey and holding it up.

“Here.”

Sungyoon blinks down at it, hesitant as he takes it from Jangjun’s grip. “What’s this for?”

Jangjun shrugs. “Couples do it every year. It’s one of those cheesy things people do when they’re madly in love and want to rub people’s noses in it. He’ll hate it.”

He still looks uncertain, but Sungyoon can’t deny that he’d feel a little better about the dark gaze following him around if it was clear he’s already spoken for, with Jangjun’s name printed across his back, and his across Jangjun’s. Swapping jerseys with him feels comfortable, somehow, so different to the sickly, possessive feeling the gesture had when Jeonghan had been trying it.

He accepts Jangjun’s jersey and pulls it on, seeing the dark haired boy shrugging on his, too, as the others watch. Jangjun’s bigger than him, and the jersey’s loose around his shoulders, comfy like an oversized sweater.

Before they can say anything, a tinny, booming voice cuts across the field, and Sungyoon’s stomach jolts as his event is called.

Seungmin slaps him on the back, and Jibeom and Donghyun jump to their feet, whistling and crying encouragements, and then Sungyoon’s legs are carrying him across the grass toward the tracks.

Jangjun steps up to Donghyun’s side, sighing.

The wolf’s smirking, as he watches Sungyoon jog away, seeing the familiar name spelled out on the back of his jersey. “Lycan don’t care about that stuff, aye?”

“Shut up,” Jangjun says, pulling the sleeves of Sungyoon’s sweater over his hands, holding them up to his face, pretending just to be blocking out the cold.

Donghyun laughs and gestures, vaguely, to where Jeonghan sits on the bleachers. “Lover boy’s not wearing his jersey any more,” he points out. “D’you think he wore it just to try that trick?”

Jangjun rolls his eyes. “It’s a shame he’s not wearing his lanyard,” he says. “Or a tie. Or anything else I could strangle him with.”

Dayeol, sitting behind them, grabs them both by the back of their jackets and tugs hard enough that they topple into chairs.

“The race is about to start,” he says, and their conversation is instantly forgotten, as everyone’s attention turns to the distant, silver-haired figure in the middle lane.

The noise from the bleachers settles into a quiet simmer. They all hold their breath. 

A whistle blows, and just like that, one blink, two, and it’s over.

The two rows of boys have their mouths hanging open as the runners pull to a stop.

“What-what just happened?” Jibeom stutters.

Someone- Jangjun can’t be sure it isn’t actually himself- swears under their breath.

Joochan recovers first, drawing back from where he’d been leaning forward, tipping his head. “Are we... _perfectly_ sure he’s human?”

“That’s what I was going to ask,” Seungmin says, sounding dazed.

Jangjun gulps. “Pretty sure.”

Bomin turns to him, frowning, looking uncertain himself. “Well, what’s his scent like?”

“Heaven,” Jangjun sighs, voice muffled by the sleeves of Sungyoon’s jersey.

Donghyun rolls his eyes. “ _Human._ Some musky kind of cologne, coconut shampoo. Washing up liquid.”

“He was scrubbing at plates in the kitchen this morning,” Daeyeol says absently. “Trying to calm himself down.”

He’d placed second. He’d overtaken two alphas and lost out to someone Jangjun had been fairly certain was some kind of Fae only because he’d stumbled at the last second.

Seungmin shakes his head, startled speechless. Jaehyun starts laughing.

“Yoon!”

Suddenly they’re all on their feet, cheering, screaming at the top of their lungs, and the human jumps at the sudden build in noise and clutches his chest, but then sees all of their delighted, euphoric faces and laughs, too. He’s herded away, towards the table laden with medals, but they trail the crowd that sweeps him up, and descend as soon as the silvers's around his neck.

“You were incredible!”

“I’ve never saw someone run that fast in my life!”

“You could outrun Daeyeol!”

Sungyoon groans at them all, though he’s grinning as they jostle him around, cheeks tinted pink, more from embarrassment than exertion. He glances up at Jangjun hovering at the edge of their little excited circle, scratching the back of his neck.

“Congrats,” the dark haired boy says, lifting the medal off of Sungyoon’s chest and dropping it again, smiling softly.

Sungyoon gives a breathy laugh and looks away. “Thanks.”

They hover, a foot apart, uncertain of what to say, as the others celebrate around them. Sungyoon’s breathless, still tripping on adrenaline, but Jangjun’s recovered his senses, and he realises that the medal table has brought them closer to the other set of bleachers and turns his head to the side, seeking out a familiar face in the crowd. Sungyoon follows the movement, and both of them spot him at the same time, arms crossed angrily over his chest, purple hair half-covering his expression, though it’s clear that he’s still watching them.

Sungyoong’s smile wavers, just a little.

Jangjun steps closer. His heart gives a nervous, alarming twist and picks up speed as he leans forward, and Sungyoon’s eyes flicker up to his, wide with surprise.

“Trust me,” Jangjun says, posing it like a question, voice quiet and soft, and Sungyoon swallows thickly, but nods. 

Jangjun smiles, and takes a step closer, so there’s barely an inch between them. He clutches the lapels of Sungyoon’s jersey and pulls, turning them slightly, so that the space between their faces isn’t visible from Jeonghan’s perspective. Sungyoon freezes- though from any angle it must look like a kiss, Jangjun’s hands still balled in the fabric of his jersey, pressing him closer, there’s a tiny gap between them.

“Close your eyes,” Jangjun breathes against his lips, and Sungyoon does, no longer fighting the instinct to let his lashes flutter shut. Jangjun tilts his head, eyes still open, flickering over Sungyoon’s face, and just before he pulls away, he leaves a light peck against Sungyoon’s cheek.

It must have been convincing- the others are gaping at them, when they pull apart. Jangjun smiles, making no excuse, and Sungyoon flushes the color of Jibeom’s hair as all eyes turn on him. At least Jangjun left it until after the race to try that trick, he thinks stupidly, trying to regain his balance, because if he’d done it before, Sungyoon wouldn’t have stood a chance.


	22. Phases of the Moon

“You know, I’d appreciate it if you could start calling me Chan.”

Sungyoon looks up from where he’d been stabbing a fry, surprise clear in his expression.

“O-Oh.”

They’re on the rooftop, Sungyoon bundled in a padded jacket and scarf, sitting bedside Jibeom and Daeyeol with his back against the half-wall, dry astroturf beneath them. Joochan’s a pace further away, cross legged in the grass.

“It’s a Fae thing,” Jibeom says, sensing Sungyoon’s hesitation at the implied intimacy. Really, Sungyoon doesn’t mind the nickname, and the idea that he’s close enough to Joochan to use it, he’s just surprised that someone like Joochan would purposefully shorten his name.

Sungyoon discards the container of fries onto the stone beside him. “A ‘Fae thing’?”

Joochan nods. “And the reason your stalker wasn’t keen on telling you his name. People who know the names of Fae have a certain power over them.”

“And calling you Chan would make you more comfortable?”

Joochan nods, though it’s a halting movement, uncertain. “Yes, I think it would. Of course, our human names aren’t our  _ true _ names, but they’re still names. Hearing them so often is…”

Daeyeol guesses, “Strange?”

The Fae’s eyes are narrowed as he looks across the rooftop, wondering how best to phrase it. “It feels invasive,” he settles on, as footsteps sound up the stairwell. “Shortening it so you’re not saying the whole thing, it’s just easier to hear.”

Sungyoon shrugs and hunts around in his jacket for his phone. “Chan it is.”

“Thank you.”

Jibeom giggles and leans into Sungyoon’s side. As two other boys step onto the roof, his eyes travel over the hastily typed facts and debunked myths and everything else Sungyoon has crammed into his phone’s notepad every chance he gets. “You’re taking notes now?”

Sungyoon nods absently.  _ ‘Fae names important’ _ goes right next to ‘ _ Fae hate iron’. _

“I told him there wouldn’t be any tests,” Jangjun says. “But he doesn’t seem to believe me.” Sungyoon huffs and puts his phone away, trying to hide his reaction to his sudden entrance with annoyance- Jangjun holds out a styrofoam cup. “For you.”

“Tell me this is coffee,” Sungyoon sighs, and then groans happily as the smell hits him. “Thank God.”

Though none of the others seem to notice- Jibeom and Daeyeol are wearing thin, airy shirts as if they’ve just come from the beach- it’s freezing up on the roof, even with the huge jacket, and the warmth soaks through the styrofoam and into his fingers, already numbing the chill. Jangjun chuckles and lowers himself down by Daeyeol’s side.

“Any sign of lover boy today?” It’s Donghyun, his voice muffled by the donut he’s biting into as he sits, holding a coffee cup identical to the ones Sungyoon and the other wolf have. He’s at least in a sweatshirt and not a shirt, but his skin is clear, unmarked by the blushes of cold at Sungyoon’s ears, the tip of his nose, high in his cheeks.

Sungyoon takes a sip that scalds his tongue and says, “I got to class early and barricaded myself into a corner with rows of chairs.”

All of them gape at him, realise he’s not joking, and laugh.

“Subtle,” Joochan nods.

Jangjun takes the lid off of his coffee and Sungyoon sees that, though it looks the same as his own from the outside, there're ice cubes floating around inside. “Did it stop him?”

Sungyoon almost laughs.  _ If only. _

“Nah, he just moved them all out of the way. At least it was kinda funny to annoy him a little.”

This time, when the others chuckle, Jangjun just shakes his head, gnawing at an ice cube. “You know, I’ve been over the whole ‘non-violent’ approach for a while now,” he says, and Sungyoon gives him a warning look.

“ _ No _ . I won’t resort to bullying just because he’s bothering me. Especially when there’s so many of us and one of him.”

“ _ Stalking _ ,” Jangjun corrects, eyes sharp, “not bothering. And it’s not as if Jeonghan’s averse to getting physical, I saw him dragging you yesterday-”

“And there’s the fight with the alpha to consider,” Daeyeol adds, eyeing Jangjun cautiously, clearly trying to stop the lycan’s approaching rant before it gets too intense.

Jibeom nods sagely, head on the vampire’s shoulder. “Fae don’t normally do stuff like that,” he says, and Joochan nods too, when Sungyoon glances at him for confirmation. 

“ _ No one _ does that with alphas,” Donghyun says. “Not even other wolves. Your stalker has a screw loose.”

“That’s been clear for a while now,” Joochan sighs.

Sungyoon stares at the steam wafting up from his coffee cup, watching it swirl and sway in the breeze, wondering why he hasn’t thought to question this before. It’s only now they’re mentioning the alpha again that he starts wondering...but he can’t ask Jibeom with them all listening. Jangjun might take it as an insult.

He sinks further into his jacket and takes another scalding sip. “He can’t keep it up forever,” he says quietly, swallowing what he really wants to ask. “It’s only a matter of time before he gets bored.”

Jibeom and Joochan exchange a long, pitying look. Grimacing, Jibeom gently says, “Fae can be very patient when they want to be, Yoon.”

His impatient whine turns into an icy white fog in the chill. “Well, what else  _ can _ we do? I don’t want any fights.”

With a glance at Jangjun, Jibeom offers, “Step up your game?”

Though Sungyoon gulps a mouthful of coffee too fast and splutters, Jangjun just rolls his eyes. “He doesn’t seem to see me as much of a threat.”

Sungyoon sighs. He wishes he could deny it, but since the race, Jeonghan’s snide remarks have all been about a certain dark-haired boy.

“You wanna date me, too?” Donghyun suggests, lips pulled up into a wry smile, and Sungyoon laughs halfheartedly, trying not to let it show that he’d been thinking that exact thing. “I am  _ actually _ a wolf, you know.”

Jangjun shoves him, and the donut Donghyun had been holding hits the astroturf with a dull thud. The beta growls- “You absolute- _ ” _

“Why wasn’t it you?”

Donghyun freezes with a fistfull of Jangjun’s shirt, irritation forgotten. “What?”

_ Now or never, right Sungyoon?  _ He’d wanted to ask it. Now they’re all staring at him he shouldn’t just suddenly change his mind.

He still can’t manage to look anywhere but Jibeom as he says it though. “I mean, why was it Jangjun? You said yourself he doesn’t see you as much of a threat, and Donghyun  _ is _ a wolf, so- I don’t know. Don’t you think it would have worked better with him?”

Donghyun turns to Jangjun, Jangjun turns to Jibeom. It was his idea after all, and he’d been very set on volunteering Jangjun, even though he’s clearly close to Donghyun too. 

“I’m just a beta,” Donghyun says, but the laugh he speaks it through is shaky, and he doesn’t sound certain. “And really-” he spreads his arms out “-who’d be scared of me?”

“Besides,” Joochan says, and though his voice is level and honeyed as usual, even his intervention makes Sungyoon think he’s touched a nerve, somehow, “it was the week of the full moon, when you met Jangjun. He was clearly the more intimidating choice.”

He’s wondering why he bothered asking, by now- though the others seem uncomfortable, he can’t figure out why, and it’s clear as he looks between the wolves who’s best suited for the job. Now he pauses. “What does the full moon have to do with that?”

“Closer to their transformation, lycan seem more like wolves,” Jangjun shrugs. He almost laughs at Sungyoon’s surprised expression. “You don’t think I wore those glasses all the time because I wanted to, did you?”

_ Oh _ . So the glasses and the jacket and the expressionlessness of the first week, the out of town visit, they all make more sense now. The change he’d seen afterwards, when Jangjun came back, when he was freer and joked around more, that’d been because whatever the full moon had been doing to him before had stopped.

Sungyoon frowns. “But that was-”

“Two weeks ago,” Jangjun nods, hearing the realisation in Sungyoon’s voice. “Almost three, which means we don’t have much time until the next one.”

“Fifteen days,” Jibeom supplies.

“So you’re...you’re gonna get like that again?”

Maybe this is the nerve he’d hit- a muscle jumps in Janjun’s jaw as if he’s grinding his teeth. “Let me just apologize in advance,” he sighs.

Jibeom, on the other hand, laughs and shakes Sungyoon’s legs excitedly. “Your first full moon with us!” he cries, and Daeyeol and Joochan chuckle at him. “We should do something.”

“I won’t be able to-”

“Not on the night!" Jibeom says. "I’m not crazy! I mean before. Just something small, at the house. A movie night or something. Cozy.”

Another icy breeze blows across the roof- Sungyoon shudders, and crosses his arms tightly across his chest. “Cozy sounds good,” he laughs.

A frown line appears between Jangjun’s brows. “Cold?”

Another shiver- Sungyoon eyes the ice in Jangjun’s cup incredulously. “You’re not?”

The lycan shakes his head. He reaches forward, and Sungyoon resists the urge to pull his hand away as Jangjun takes it, raising it to his own forehead, so Sungyoon can feel the heat of his skin on the back of his hand. He’s burning up.

“D’you have a fever?”

Jangjun shrugs as if even he doesn’t know the answer to that. “I’m always like this,” he says simply. “Comes in handy, I suppose.”

_ I bet _ , Sungyoon thinks bitterly. He shivers again, when Jangjun releases his hand, now more than ever aware of the cold seeping into his bones, now the warmth from Jangjun is gone. The lycan tuts, and pulls his jacket off.

“N-it’s alright-”

Jangjun shushes him, and his dark jacket is flung across Sungyoon’s legs like a blanket, still warm. The cold’s immediately more bearable, but the heat in Sungyoon’s cheeks has nothing to do with the change in temperature. 

“What a gent,” Jibeom says, humour lilting his voice, but when Jangjun glares at him, his smile’s soft, almost encouraging. Before Sungyoon can notice, Jangjun looks away.

After that, it doesn’t take long for things to start escalating.

Jibeom had somehow made them all agree to spending the night at the house two days before the full moon, and had been arguing with Donghyun about the movie selection very adamantly since the rooftop. Sungyoon spends a day convincing Seungmin to come and another in bed, blowing off classes, not yet ready to face Jangjun after the rooftop, knowing the lycan’s patience is running out. But he can’t stay away forever, and the next day, 12 days before the full moon, he lets Jangjun walk him to his morning class.

There’s nothing physically different about him yet, though Sungyoon had been told about how he’ll change as the full moon approaches, and he seems like himself, smiling at Sungyoon from the kitchen table like he did the day after Sungyoon had found out everything, that’s already starting to feel so far away. It’s only when they get close enough to Sungyoon’s building to see the purple-haired boy waiting outside that Sungyoon starts wondering whether he’s already feeling the effects- Jangjun slides an arm over his shoulders, and pulls him close. Alarm bells start ringing in Sungyoon’s head, a flashback to the field when another boy had been dragging him across the grass, but then Jangjun seems to realise what he’s done.

“You can tell me to stop-”

Sungyoon catches Jangjun’s hand as the other boy’s arm starts to slide from his shoulder. “Don’t. It’s fine.”

He thinks about entwining their fingers, but it’s cold, and he shoves his hands in his pockets instead, wary but still grateful for the added heat of Jangjun so close beside him. They walk slowly, both pretending to be casual and stalling, to see if today’s one of the days Jeonghan will get bored before they reach him and stalk inside- no luck there. He laughs when they’re a few paces from him, blocking their way to the doors.

“Taking your time,” he says, his gaze never leaving Sungyoon’s face. “I was starting to worry you’d be late for class.”

“There’s no need for you to concern yourself,” Jangjun says, and Sungyoon glances cautiously at him to see his smile is sharp and amused, and unease twists in his stomach when he realises Jangjun’s eyes aren’t quite their usual almost-black.

“Come on,” Jeonghan says, ignoring Jangjun altogether, stepping back but not aside, making sure he’s still between Sungyoon and the door. “Let’s go together.”

The arm around Sungyoon’s shoulders tightens its grip. “You go on ahead.”

The noise inside the building behind them dies down as a door swings shut- class must be starting.

Jeonghan laughs again. “Really, come on.” He reaches forward as if he’s going to grab Sungyoon’s arm, and Jangjun lurches forward, eyes suddenly scarlet, snapping his teeth in the air where Jeonghan’s face used to be, making him jump backwards. Sungyoon jolts, but tries to keep the surprise from his face as Jeonghan scowls between the two of them. His heart’s pounding, but he makes himself smile, even when he’s frozen in place. 

“Go on ahead,” Jangjun repeats, back to normal again, and Jeonghan glares darker than Sungyoon had ever saw before, but turns on his heels and pushes through the double doors anyway, muttering under his breath.

Sungyoon steps out of Jangjun’s hold as soon as he’s certain they’re not being watched.

“What the hell was that about?”

Jangjun shrugs, though Sungyoon doesn’t think he’s imagining the paleness in his skin, as if he’d surprised even himself. “Wolves are possessive. If I keep playing nice, he won’t believe us.” He fixes Sungyoon’s jacket, pulling it straight where his grip had skewed the collar. “He’ll know it’s a full moon soon. He should expect that kind of reaction.” Sungyoon tries and fails to think of something to say. Jangjun steps away. “You’re late, get to class.”

He’s already walking away before Sungyoon can argue. Sungyoon sighs, and watches him go.


	23. A Stumble In The Dark

There’s an almighty crash from the garden, and someone shrieks in surprise. Sungyoon winces at the peel of laughter that follows it all, knowing what’s coming just as Jibeom roars-

“I’m going to _slaughter_ whoever taught Youngtaek that!”

Donhgyun laughs as he steps into the living room, catching Sungyoon’s guilty expression. “What’d you do?”

“Mentos and coke,” Sungyoon says, sinking into the sofa as if trying to disappear. “I thought he’d appreciate it.”

“Sounds like he’s the only one,” Seungmin says, drily, just as doors slam and three boys come in from the kitchen, Jaehyun looking giddy, Jibeom dragging Youngtaek by the arm.

“It went everywhere!” he’s crying, and Sungyoon glimpses up to see there are stains on his shirt, and he’s shaking coke from his fingers. “It’s all over the flower patch! How did you even know to do that?”

Cautiously, Sungyoon’s hand rises slowly into the air. “That might have had something to do with me.”

Jibeom’s anger dissipates before their eyes, as if it was never there at all. Youngtaek looks startled to find that his wrist has been dropped without any more yelling or a lecture.

“Just try not to soak the garden next time,” he sighs, and Youngtaek rushes to perch on the side of the armchair Seungmin had taken, nodding. Jaehyun slinks over to the sofa and settles between Donghyun and Sungyoon, smiling shyly. 

It’s seven days until the full moon. Jibeom sighs and sits on the carpet, in front of the TV they’re all ignoring. “Any news from the others?” he asks, and Bomin, who’d been curled up on the second sofa all by himself, shakes his head drowsily.

“Joochan’s with some friends, I suppose. Jangjun’s still in the library, so Daeyeol’s keeping an eye on him.”

Jibeom rolls his eyes. “ _Jangjun_ and _library_ are two words I never thought I’d hear together.”

Sungyoon takes a sip from his glass and tries not to meet anyone’s eye. He’s fairly certain he’s the only person in the room who knows the real reason Jangjun’s not home.

It’s not as if he has to be, of course. It’s not really as if they even had plans, just a sudden invite from Jibeom that the others didn’t even seem to know about- not that Youngtaek particularly seemed to mind, when they’d walked through the door together. 

Maybe Jangjun’s just avoiding Seungmin. But even as he tries to lie to himself, Sungyoon _knows_ it’s a lie- Jangjun had seemed almost welcoming when they’d invited Seungmin along with them last time.

“What’s up with you?”

Sungyoon’s head whips up to see Bomin watching him. “Huh? Nothing’s up.”

“Lying’s a sin, you know,” the angel says mildly.

Sungyoon shakes his head. “Really, he insists, “it’s nothing. Just classes and…you know.”

The rest of them nod along sympathetically- though Sungyoon catches Bomin’s gaze lingering on him for a doubtful moment, the angel drops it, too.

“You saw him last night, didn’t you?” When Sungyoon raises a brow, Jibeom clarifies, “Jangjun.”

“He walked me back from class.”

Bomin pulls himself up into a sitting position and Youngtaek moves from the arm of the armchair to the cushion beside him. “How’d he seem?” the angel asks.

Sungyoon laughs breathlessly. “A little on edge.”

He’d been pale. The first thing Sungyoon had noticed was how pale he was, how his eyes seemed darker, as if they were lined with kohl, how much sharper he’d been made with the contrast. Jangjun had smiled, though, when Sungyoon had spotted him outside of a late night extracurricular. Jeonghan never went to them, but Sungyoon hadn’t been able to dissuade Jangun from showing up, all the same.

“Ready?” he’d asked. 

Sungyoon had nodded and they’d fallen into step. Jangjun had asked how class went, whether he’d had dinner, listened to all of Sungyoon’s replies politely, though it was just small talk. They’d sounded like strangers.

“He give you any trouble?” Jangjun had asked. Sungyoon had glanced at him, surprised at the sudden topic change, remembering the paleness and the sharpness only when Jangjun had glanced back at him.

“I hardly saw him today.”

“Good,” Jangjun had nodded. “Good, that’s good.” He’d been wearing a plain t-shirt, black, so it was harder to see him in the dimness, unbothered by the chill the sunset had brought to the day. Sungyoon had thought he was carrying his dark jacket because he’d just taken it off, just because he’d been too warm with it on, but then Jangjun had held it up, and said, “Wear this tomorrow.”

Sungyon had taken it instinctively, but then frowned. “Why would I do that?”

Jangjun had looked at him blankly. “I told you he’ll expect possessiveness, didn’t I?”

They’d stopped just outside the dormitory block. In the orange glow of a ground floor window, Sungyoon could see Jangjun’s face hovering before his, pale and angular, could smell the almost smoky scent of cologne. He glances down at the jacket he’s still carrying. The fabric’s soft against his fingertips. “Is that all this is about?”

Jangjun’s dark eyes narrowed. In the silence, only the distant drone of late night traffic had reached them. 

“What are you really asking me?” Jangjun had said eventually.

Sungyoon had held the jacket up in the air. “You’re beginning to sound like someone else we know.”

Jangjun had scoffed. “You know that’s not what I-”

“I don’t like the word ‘ _possessive_ ’,” Sungyoon had hissed, too overcome with his sudden anger to be surprised at himself. Jangjun had stumbled when he’d pushed the jacket back into his arms. “You can keep this, I don’t want it.”

“Yoon-”

“Good night, Jangjun.”

Jangjun hadn't shown up to walk him the next morning. Sungyoon can't blame him: in his memory, his own voice had been thunderous in the dark, and when Jangjun had only been trying to help him. It shouldn’t have annoyed him so much. And he _had_ realised how similar it might look, to someone else, Jeonghan trying to switch their jerseys at the race, Jangjun pushing his jacket into Sungyoon’s hand, but Jangjun had been right, last night. He knows it’s not the same, and he knows that’s not what had really annoyed him. It had been that word again- _possessive-_ that’d made him think about what would happen after the full moon, when Jangjun was more himself again. He might act like this now, bolder, protective, even possessive, but afterwards? Afterwards, he'd go back to acting as he always does, uninterested again, and Sungyoon would just have to deal with it.

 _What are you really trying to ask me?_ Jangjun had said.

Sungyoon’s not sure himself. ' _Why did Jibeom really volunteer you?' maybe. 'Why are you still doing this, when it isn’t making any difference?' Or, if he'd been bolder, 'Does it mean the same to you as it does to me?'_

“Bomin was right,” Donghyun's saying, “there _is_ something going on with you, isn’t there?”

It’s pitch black outside, and they’re walking back to their dorm, him, Donghyun and Seungmin. Sungyoon tries to remember even leaving Jibeom’s house and is only met with blurry impressions of goodbyes. How long had he been lost in thought like this?

“I told you, it’s just school stuff.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t rant to us about it,” Donghyun shrugs. "It might make you feel better." Seungmin nods, quietly, from Sungyoon’s other side.

He’s quiet for a while. Seungmin surprises him by linking their arms together, smiling softly, so softly it’s clear he’s already guessed what this is really about.

“We won’t tell the others,” he says quietly, and Donghyun glances between the two of them, understanding just as quickly.

“This is about Jun?”

“I think he’s avoiding me,” Sungyoon admits. He hadn’t wanted everyone to know but, at the same time, he’d been dying to tell _someone_ , maybe so they can tell him there’s nothing to worry about, even if he won’t really believe them.

Seungmin tuts. “Idiot.”

Somehow, it feels really good to have someone who’s always going to be on his side. Even though he still wants Seungmin’s pointless feud with Jangjun to end, he’d been beating himself up over snapping so much that he didn’t realise how much he needed someone to just be on his side until Seungmin’s rolling his eyes.

He laughs and pulls the shorter boy closer to his side. “No, I think it’s my fault. I kind of snapped at him.” _And implied that he was like Jeonghan._ Just thinking about it, he feels nauseous.

He’s dreading them asking more questions, but they don’t. Donghyun just sighs, and takes his other arm, and they let him wallow in his silence for a while as they walk, ridiculously joined in a row, taking up the entire sidewalk, Seungmin patting his arm sometimes, Donghyun making gentle, quiet commentary now and again. It’s only when they’re stepping into their dorm that they even say anything, Donghyun appearing in Sungyoon’s doorway as he searches for pyjamas.

“You’ll figure things out,” he says, giving a reassuring nod when Sungyoon glances up at him. “Whatever it is, Jun won’t stay mad at you for long.”

Sungyoon sighs and stops hunting for a shirt, glaring at the wall opposite him. Donghyun pads softly into the room and sits cross-legged on the edge of the bed.

“D’you want to tell me?” 

Sungyoon shakes his head. While he wholeheartedly believes Donghyun wouldn’t mention it to anyone outside of this room, even imagining recounting what he’d said to Jangjun sends a pang of guilt through him. Donghyun’s a wolf too. He doesn’t want him to know how stupid he’d been, how much he’d overreacted.

“I just don’t know where I stand with him,” he says instead, because that’s not a lie either.

Donghyun accepts this with a nod, but then adds, “Where do you _want_ to stand with him?”

Sungyoon collapses into his desk chair. “I don’t know,” he says, staring up at the dark ceiling above him.

“Don’t you? It kind of seems to me like you do.” Sungyoon glances at him, and he throws his hands up either side of his face in surrender. “Hey, it’s not like I can judge, remember?”

That makes Sungyoon laugh, a quiet, self-deprecating kind of laugh that Donghyun copies.

Just this once, Sungyoon let’s himself whine. “What do I _do_ , Hyun?”

“You apologize for whatever you did,” Donghyun shrugs. “And then you take your head out of your ass and finally admit that the guy who _asked you on a date last week_ is not someone you need to tiptoe around this much.”

“It wasn’t a date-”

Donghyun groans and puts his head in his hands. “You’re literally the only one who thinks that. And hey!” his face lights up with the realisation. “On the field, after the race-”

“It was fake, Hyun,” Sungyoon mumbles.

The hands that'd been covering Donghyun's face fall into his lap. “What?”

“It wasn't a real kiss, it was _fake.”_

The chair squeaks as Sungyoon stands and flops down onto his bed beside Donghyun, and the wolf giggles and pats his leg, laughing at him even when he’s comforting him. As they talk, they forget about the late hour, and are wholly ignorant to the commotion currently going on in the house they’d just left.

Jibeom’s in the kitchen when he hears the front door open, and angry voices float through the house. One of them’s Daeyeol’s, trying to talk over another, and it’s clear he’s hanging onto the threads of his fraying patience desperately. Jibeom sighs, throws down the tea towel in his hands, and steps into the living room, already with a good idea of what could be causing the chaos.

Bomin looks up at him from the armchair, grumpy, a book balanced on his leg and now forgotten as the three boys come crashing in, Daeyeol and Jangjun bickering and then, slower, Joochan following behind, stiff-postured, closing the door.

_What’s he doing here so late?_

“What’s going on?”

They quiet down when they see him and Bomin staring at them, but Jangjun scoffs only a second later, anger obviously still close to the surface.

“You’ll never guess who we met at the library,” he says, through a sharp smile, and Jibeom internally groans, seeing all the signs of the full moon manifesting in that smile, in the paleness of his skin, how his hair is ruffled and messy and he doesn’t seem to notice.

Bomin throws his book onto the coffee table and, eyes flickering behind Jangjun, drily says, “Joochan?”

“With a party of other dweeb Faes, one of whom was _very_ familiar.”

Jibeom’s gaze leaves Jangjun for the first time, jumping to Joochan in surprise. “You were with Jeonghan?”

“I was with friends,” Joochan corrects, exasperated, arms crossed over his chest in a way that’s obviously defensive. “I wouldn’t say the two of us were there together-”

“You certainly had a seat at the table,” Jangjun snarls.

Joochan rolls his eyes. “I have a seat at every table Jangjun, that doesn’t mean I even knew he was going to be there.” 

The red that had been slowly lightening the dark of Jangjun’s eyes solidifies into a stronger crimson. “Did you?” he asks. “Did you know he was going to be there?”

Joochan sniffs and looks away. “Unsurprisingly, none of the others seemed very keen on informing me-”

“Tell me ‘no’, Chan,” Jangjun growls impatiently. “Just say you didn’t know he’d be there.”

The lie sits impossibly heavy on his tongue. Joochan says nothing.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jangun cries. Bomin winces.

“It’s not as if we’re _friends_ ,” Joochan opposes. “And when you _finally_ collect yourself, you’ll realise how unreasonable you’re being.”

Jibeom and Daeyeol exchange a wary glance.

“I don’t think he’s being that unreasonable,” Bomin says, before they can think of what to say, and Jangjun triumphantly throws up his hands as Joochan’s clever eyes settle on the angel.

“You don’t?”

Bomin shakes his head. “No,” he says simply, “I wouldn’t want you around him either.”

There’s a rustle of fabric as Joochan uncrosses his arms, suddenly the only sound in the silence, and the Fae’s gaze travels around the room, from Bomin to Jangjun, still scowling at him, landing on where Daeyeol and Jibeom now huddle together by the door to the kitchen.“And you two?”

Daeyeol clears his throat awkwardly. “Well, obviously Jangjun is taking it a little far-” the warning glare he sends Jangjun here is met with equal fire “-but...I see why he’d be angry. Even if it weren’t for the timing, which really isn't great, I assume he’d still be angry with you. Just maybe not as…” he glances over to where Jangjun’s lingering by a sofa, visibly shaking, eyes red, and finishes lamely: “vocal.”

“You expect me to avoid Jeonghan altogether?” Joochan asks.

Jibeom’s voice is gentle, more cautious than the others. “Yes, Chan. Aren’t you on Sungyoon’s side?”

The Fae blinks at him, not seeing the connection. “Of course I am.”

“Alright,” Jibeom nods, ignoring Jangjun’s huffing. “Then I’m sure if you think about it, you’ll understand why Sungyoon wouldn’t like it if he saw you with Jeonghan. It’d be like you were ignoring all of the things the Fae has done to him.”

Bomin picks up his book again and asks casually, “Now you see why we don’t want you around him?”

Joochan drops onto a sofa cushion, a far more elegant version of a child throwing a tantrum.“I suppose.”

“Good,” Daeyeol nods, and then immediately turns his glare on Jangjun. “No more school trips for you. Tomorrow it’s less than a week from the full moon, when you're not in class you should be here. No starting fights in libraries, understand?”

At least Jangjun’s eyes are darkening, when he rolls them. “Sure.” He's not exactly _calming down,_ doesn't regret his anger at all, but now he's back at home and away from everyone he didn't want to be close to, he's starting to remember the real reason he's angry, the darkness of last night so similar to this night, the feeling of his jacket hitting his chest, stumbling, Sungyoon turning and marching away from him.

He storms up the stairs and slams his door shut.


	24. Testing The Water

“Am I dreaming?”

The figure hovering at the end of his bed lets out a breathy laugh. “They told me you’d be up here,” he says. “I didn’t expect-” he gestures with an awkward hand at the pile of blankets.

Jangjun blinks and the blurry shapes of his room settle- he sits up suddenly, making himself dizzy, gaping at the boy standing above him. Sungyoon smiles back shyly, clearly trying not to laugh at the way Jangjun’s hair is standing up in every direction.

“What are you doing in my room?”

Sungyoon shrugs, not looking at him. “I have a class. Wanted you to stop avoiding me.”

“I wasn’t-”

Sungyoon doesn’t let him finish the lie. “Get dressed, you’re walking me.”

His voice is still husky with sleep when Jangjun laughs. “I am, am I?”

With a smile, Sungyoon steps away and settles into the rocking chair by Jangjun’s door, making himself at home. He’s dressed already, for the cold, a long woolen jacket and grey scarf, the glint of a necklace catching the light underneath, hair falling in soft curls down his forehead. 

Jangjun, still slow with sleep, tries not to stare. It’s been two days since their late night stroll, two mornings before this one of Jangjun staying in bed, staying away.

“You’re really not leaving are you?”

“Nope.”

_It wasn’t a date-_

_You’re literally the only one who thinks that._

There’s only one way to find out whether Donghyun’s right, right?

Jangjun huffs a laugh and throws the blanket off. Sungyoon’s looking down at his nails, not paying attention as Jangjun shuffles around and disappears into the en suite with a bundle of clothes under one arm, but as soon as the door's locked he sighs and sinks further into the chair.

Jangjun emerges soon after in a clean grey shirt and dark jeans, hair damp, the sandy streaks turned a darker gold by the water. He rubs at it with a towel, grinning when he sees Sungyoon still reclining by the door.

“You can go downstairs, you know, I won’t run away.”

“Can’t be too cautious,” Sungyoon says, eyes closed, head tipped back to rest against the back of the chair. “And I’m too comfortable to move.”

The room goes quiet for a moment. Sungyoon thinks he can feel eyes travelling across his face, and when he opens his eyes, Jangjun’s watching him.

He turns away, chucking the towel on top of a cabinet and opening a drawer. “Why’re you here, Yoon?”

Sungyoon gnaws at his lip. “I’m sorry I freaked out on you.”

There’s a pair of sunglasses in his hand when Jangjun glances across at him. “You’re here to apologise?”

“And also because it kind of sucks walking alone now.” _Tell me I’m not blushing right now that’s so embarrassing it’s just one apology._

Jangjun’s eyes flicker over his face, and he laughs. _There goes that hope._

“Let’s go, then.”

They meet Jibeom on the second floor landing, just stepping out of his room. His eyes narrow as he spots Jangjun coming down the stairs after Sungyoon.

“Where are _you_ going?”

Jangjun makes a sound that’s halfway between an exasperated sigh and a laugh. “I’m walking Yoon to class and coming straight back here.”

Jibeom shakes his head. “Just make sure he behaves,” he says, to Sungyoon, who splutters an incredulous laugh. Jangjun pushes him lightly on the shoulder, and they start down the stairs again. When the lycan glances over his shoulder, he sees Jibeom glaring after him- the redhead draws a finger across his neck in warning and Jangjun smothers a laugh as Sungyoon steps out into the daylight ahead of him.

“How was it yesterday?” Jangjun asks, as they stroll towards the school. He means the morning he hadn’t been there.

Sungyoon rubs his hands together, already feeling the cold. Jangjun hadn’t even bothered grabbing a jacket before they’d left, but even the striped scarf Sungyoon had stolen from Daeyeol that morning is doing little to fight the chill.

“You’ll be surprised to learn an adorable little tabby cat showed up at my dormitory,” he says.

“Adorable, huh? You can’t be talking about the tabby I know.”

Sungyoon shoves him, and Jangjun careens away, laughing. He’s a little closer than before, when he comes back.

There’s a pause, as they walk slowly, and then Sungyoon asks, “Did you ask him to follow me?”

Jangjun shakes his head. “Didn’t think I’d have to. Clearly, I was right.”

“But how did he know you wouldn’t show up?” Jaehyun hadn’t followed him to class since Jangjun had started walking with him, but then there had been a day of Jangjun avoiding him, and yesterday morning Sungyoon had stepped outside to a meow and spotted the bundle of fur waiting in the grass.

Jangjun winces. “I told him what happened,” he admits. “That night, he was still awake when I got back. I knew he’d be the only one who wouldn’t just tell me I’d been an idiot, so…”

“I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

“Forget it," Jangjun says, his smile like a strange, upside-down frown.

“No, really," Sungyoon insists, "I don’t know why I said it.”

“We really need to stop apologising to each other,” Jangjun says, his voice light with amusement. “Aren’t you getting bored of it?”

Sungyoon laughs, and nods. He cups his hands over his mouth and breathes out, trying to warm them, cursing himself for not buying gloves before the cold weather set in. Jangjun catches the movement out of the corner of his eye. He smiles, and takes one of Sungyoon’s hands between his own, entwining their fingers.

_Maybe forgetting the gloves wasn’t so bad._

“What’re you gonna do when it starts snowing?” Jangjun says, shaking his head, though he doesn’t let go of his hand.

“Hibernate.”

Jangjun laughs. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Sungyoon shoves his other hand inside his pocket. Jangjun’s thumb swipes across his knuckles. Too soon, the sports department comes into view.

“And here we go again,” Jangjun sighs. He glances at Sungyoon in surprise when the other boy just tightens his grip on his hand and keeps walking.

Jangjun looks down at where their fingers intertwine. _You’re beginning to sound like someone we know._

“Look, Yoon-” he stops, and Sungyoon’s tugged backwards, startled out of his thoughts. “We don’t need to keep doing this, you know.”

The silver-haired boy stares at him, a frown gone as quickly as if had arrived, as if he’s trying to smooth out his expression. “What?”

Jangjun glances back toward the building and the Fae that’s become an almost permanent feature outside its doors. “It’s just, it’s clearly not working out like we all wanted it to, and if he’s still going to bother you-”

“You’re backing out on me?”

Jangjun looks at him sharply. “No, of course not.”

“Good,” Sungyoon nods. He starts walking again, dragging Jangjun with him, and surprises him by raising their arms and slipping underneath, so Jangjun’s arm is around his shoulder again, their hands still connected. “Because it hasn’t stopped him yet, but it’s _so_ fun to watch it annoy him.”

Jangjun breathes a bewildered laugh and shuffles so his arm’s resting more comfortably. “You’re just using me,” he says, an exaggerated pout to his lips, dramatically whipping his head away when Sungyoon looks at him.

“You _did_ agree to this,” Sungyoon reminds him, grinning.

Jangjun sniffs and wipes away an imaginary tear with his free hand. “Didn’t know you’d be such a heartbreaker.”

Sungyoon turns away, back to the school building, and Jangjun takes the opportunity to look at him, running his eyes over the dark silver that’s started to fade from his hair, the almond shape of his eyes, the sharp angle of his nose, how the corner of his mouth is still quirked up into a smile. He lowers his arm so it's around Sungyoon’s waist instead, feeling the other boy tense, then relax. 

They’re a few paces away from the doors now. Jeonghan doesn’t bother meeting them this time, just lingers by the door. Jangjun makes sure he’s within earshot when he pulls Sungyoon to a stop.

“Have a good day,” he says, and Sungyoon does a very impressive job of acting shy as he smiles, and nods. At least, Jangjun thinks it’s an act- maybe it’s real, because just as Jangjun starts pulling his arm away from his waist, Sungyoon tips his chin up and lips brush against his cheek.

“I’ll see you later,” Sungyoon says, already ducking inside, and Jangjun can do nothing but stare after him and try not to let his shock show on his face as he feels Jeonghan glaring at him from the doorway. When Sungyoon’s disappeared inside, Jangjun gives the Fae a smile that feels ridiculously triumphant, and turns on his heels, strolling back the way he came.

By the halfway point between school and home, he’s limping. The aches have started, and one of his legs has been trying to seize up for the entire walk back, the cold not helping, so when he finally drags himself through the door he barely makes it to the sofa before he topples, with a grateful groan, into the worn fabric cushions.

Jaehyun, hair mussed from sleep, blinks at him from the armchair, startled awake from where he’d been dozing.

His usual smoky voice is smokier with his sudden awakening. “Are you alright?”

In answer, Jangjun lets out a long, heart-felt groan, eyes squeezed shut. Jaehyun makes a sympathetic noise at the back of his throat and drops onto the carpet by the sofa, head resting on the cushion by Jangjun’s chest.

“Full moon stuff?”

Jangjun nods without opening his eyes. “I can’t wait for this week to be over.”

There’s a scraping noise, and then something’s jumping up onto the sofa beside him. He doesn’t need to open his eyes to know what it is, the scent familiar in the air, even before Jaehyun curls up against his chest, and Jangjun trails his fingers through soft fur. When he rolls onto his back, the tabby crawls onto his stomach, meowing, and Jangjun opens his eyes to see the kitten’s head dropping onto his chest, and laughs. Jangjun closes his eyes again, the ache partially receding, the warm bundle lying on his stomach like a living hot water bottle, drifting off to the sound of gentle purring.

It’s Jaehyun that shakes him awake again, a few hours later.

“Jun. _Jun!”_

With a gasp, Jangjun half-sits up, startling the boy leaning over him into dropping back onto the carpet with a yelp.

“What time is it?” Jangjun asks.

“Sungyoon’s class must be almost over.”

Jangjun blinks at him for a second, two seconds, and then bolts for the door.

Sungyoon dissolves into giggles as soon as he spots him waiting outside the doors. Jangjun’s panting, practically bent double, his breath turning white in the cold air, hair sticking up like a mad scientist’s.

“Did you _run_ here?”

“I fell asleep,” Jangjun pants. “Jae had to wake me up.”

Sungyoon laughs again, as Jangjun pulls himself together enough to stand straight. “You could have just text me.”

Breath levelling out, Jangjun just shakes his head. When they start walking, it takes two steps for Sungyoon to notice how stiff he is, how he leans more heavily on one leg than the other.

“What’s wrong?” His concern is slightly blunted by a laugh, as he ask, “Did you pull a muscle sprinting here?”

Jangjun shakes his head again. “It’s nothing.”

“Oh.” Sungyoon eyes how he's wobbling, suddenly feeling guilty. “Is it because of-”

His worry is waved away. “I’m fine, really. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

“Huh," Sungyoon breathes. There's a sympathetic edge to his small smile as he jokes, "I guess it’s not all good, then.”

“ _Good_?” Jangjun turns to study his expression with attentive eyes. “What’s so _good_ about it?”

Thoughtfully, Sungyoon's eyes flicker across the street, following the crowd, distracted. “Well, you’re never cold, for one. And I doubt you’ve been in many situations like-” he gestures back to the school behind them, clearly thinking about a certain purple-haired Fae.

“My back’s killing me,” Jangjun says. “And I can still smell the food from the cafeteria. It does _not_ smell good, by the way.” Now he mentions it, Sungyoon does think he looks a little green.

Sungyoon can’t help but laugh. “It sounds like you’re pregnant.”

The surprised chuckle this gets is followed by a groan, and Jangjun clutches his stomach. “Don’t make me laugh.”

Sungyoon grimaces. “Are you sure you should be out of bed?”

“There’re still four days left," Jangjun says immediately. "I’m _not_ staying in bed for that long.”

It sounds like something he's argued about before. Sungyoon's struck with the ridiculous image of Jangjun swaddled in blankets, a steaming mug in his hands, Jibeom fussing over him insistently, a little tabby swatting at his legs.

“Maybe we should do the movie night tomorrow, then," he says. "Before you start whining even more.”

Though he knows he’s just teasing, just trying to make him laugh, Jangjun slaps him on the arm anyway, as if he were terribly offended.

“I’m fine with doing it tomorrow,” he says. “The only ones who might have plans are Bomin and Chan, but I’ll spread the word.”

Sungyoon nods, and they fall silent as they pass through crowds, Jangjun noticeably stabler on his feet now, Sungyoon’s fingers frozen through, ice in his bones. He wants to put his hands in his pockets, but then, kind of doesn’t, too.

“Have they decided on a movie?” Sungyoon asks, as the dormitories come into view in the distance, before he realises it’s probably been too long since they were talking about this.

“Hm? Oh. I don’t think so. I should probably warn you, though, Youngtaek has _terrible_ taste in movies.”

The very sincere disgust in his voice has Sungyoon smiling ear to ear. “Like what?”

“Like, Back to the Future _._ Or Gremlins. Anything with a mad scientist, really. He must relate to them.”

Sungyoon laughs at his traumatised expression as Janjgun shakes his head. “Gremlins isn’t so bad.”

Jangjun shudders. “Not the first dozen times, it’s not.”

“Alright. No Gremlins then.” They’ve reached the dorms, and their laughter patters off into awkward little chuckles as Sungyoon finally puts his hands in his pockets, the toe of one boot disrupting the asphalt beneath them, stalling. “D’you want to stay for a while? You’re really pale.”

Jangjun shakes his head. “It’s OK, I just want some fresh air.”

“Alright, then.” He shuffles, his keys clanging as he brings them out of his pocket, Jangjun taking a half step away but not walking back down the path yet, as if waiting for Sungyoon to be safe climbing the stairs before he turns around. Sungyoon fiddles with the keychain, the jagged edge of a key sharp against the soft skin of his palm.

He knows this is different, that it might change things- there’s no one around this time, no watching Fae to annoy, no one to convince, which only makes the fluttering feeling in his stomach so much stronger than it had been that morning, when he’d pecked Jangjun on the cheek so quickly it could barely pass as a kiss, and ran to class. But Jangjun’s still lingering behind him, and when Sungyoon glances at him over his shoulder, he smiles, gently, as if he knows Sungyoon’s still stalling.

So Sungyoon turns and leans closer, as if they did this everyday, and presses his lips to Jangjun’s cheek, feeling the other boy freeze, pulling away with a casual smile and trying desperately to hold in the nervous laugh that’s trying to claw up his throat.

Jangjun blinks at him for a moment, startled, and then collapses into a breathless laugh, one palm flat against his chest as he laughs at himself. 

Just as startled, the nervous laugh escapes, and Sungyoon stares at Jangjun’s wide grin, a slow smile starting on his lips, too. “Did I scare you?”

Recovered, Jangjun straightens, and Sungyoon’s stomach jolts as the grin shifts suddenly into a teasing smirk. “Is that all I get for walking you all the way here?” Jangjun asks. He makes a pained face and puts a hand on Sungyoon’s shoulder, resting his weight against him, rubbing at his knee, groaning.

Sungyoon shoves his hand from his shoulder, tipping him backwards, chuckling as Jangjun tries to regain his balance.

“You’re pushing me now?" the lycan gasps. "When I’m all weak and injured?”

Sungyoon rolls his eyes, poking him in the ribs. “Is there any way to shut you up?”

Jangjun’s smirk turns impish. “I can think of one.” He tips his head to the side, and his eyes flicker crimson and stay red, even when Sungyoon takes a surprised half-step backwards.

“Are you doing that on purpose?” When Jangjun just frowns, he gestures to his eyes, and realisation flashes over Jangjun’s face. He blinks one, twice, and on the third time, his eyes darken again, one at a time.

“I should go,” he says, already turning away.

Instinctively, Sungyoon takes a step to follow him, and then hesitates. The doorhandle is almost painfully cold as he reaches for it with shaky fingers. “Tomorrow, then?”

Jangjun turns to look over his shoulder. “Tomorrow,” he smiles.


	25. Movie Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooooooooooooooo sorry for the break, this has been the longest i've gone not writing in ages :( have an extra long chapter and my sincerest apologies! hope you've all been well xxxx

“Min! Grab my toothbrush when you’re in there, would you?”

There’s a distant yell of assent, and Daeyeol steps back into Sungyoon’s bedroom to see the human laughing, a bewildered edge to his smile as he watches the taller boy step back into the room.

“What’d I do?”

“Nothing,” Sungyoon shakes his head, still giggling. “It’s just funny thinking about a vampire having a cheap plastic toothbrush like the rest of us.”

“What else would I use?”

Sungyoon shrugs. Seungmin steps through the door a few seconds later to see Daeyeol sitting patiently in Sungyoon’s desk chair with his chin tipped back, Sungyoon pressing a cautious fingertip to one of his canines.

“What’s...what’s going on?”

Daeyeol draws his head away and snaps his mouth shut. Sungyoon giggles, and sits on the edge of his bed, where a duffel bag lies open.

“Just showing Yoon they’re only sharp when I want them to be,” Daeyeol says, smiling as Seungmin passes him a toothbrush. “Thanks.”

Seungmin laughs through closed lips and rests against the desk by Daeyeol’s chair. “Should I be concerned?” he asks Sungyoon. “If the start to the night is you putting your fingers in a vampire’s mouth, do I even want to know how this will end?”

“I’ll be good,” Sungyoon laughs, running a finger in an ‘ _x’_ shape on his chest, “cross my heart.”

Daeyeol tilts his head. “Why would you do that?”

Seungmin’s staring at him too, bemused. Sungyoon clears his throat to hide a laugh and says, “Oh, um, it’s a human thing-”

They don’t realise Donghyun’s standing in the doorway until he’s sighing. “I’m sure they get the gist. You still packing?”

Looks are exchanged around the room, and then the chair’s squealing as Daeyeol stands. “Ready if you are.”

“ _Finally_ ,” Donghyun groans, stepping out into the corridor to let the others pass him. “Ji said 'cause Jangjun won’t be cooking we can order a pizza and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.”

The others shake their head, but Sungyoon smiles as Donghyun waits for him to sling the duffel bag over his shoulder and close his door. “What is it with you and pizza?”

“It doesn’t have to be pizza,” Donghyun opposes, slinging a backpack over one arm, ignoring Seungmin holding the front door open as he steps into the corridor. “It could be...chinese food, or fish and chips, or whatever the hell else we can deliver, just _human_ food. All of my other friends hate the smell!”

Seungmin turns to lock the door behind them as Sungyoon shuffles past, rolling his eyes. “It’s not just us that’ll be complaining tonight,” he says, his voice dark and dry in a way that makes Sungyoon wince, and makes it very obvious who he’s talking about.

Donghyun scoffs. “Well it’s not as if Jun’s in any state to stop me.”

"Do you have a death wish?" Daeyeol groans. "Do _not_ anger the hormonal, rabid lycan tonight."

Donghyun gives him an innocent, wide-eyed look. "What if the movie's boring?"

Both Daeyeol and Sungyoon shove him at the same time- Donghyun catches himself on a banister just in time to avoid rolling down three flights of stairs. Seungmin glares daggers at the two of them, and when his back is turned, Daeyeol laughs under his breath, grimacing conspiratorially when he meets Sungyoon’s eye. 

_Huh._ Maybe Sungyoon isn’t the only one who knows about Seungmin’s feelings, then.

Sungyoon trails behind as they start walking toward Jibeom’s house, Seungmin slow and calm as usual, with Donghyun jumping around a few feet ahead, Daeyeol trotting anxiously beside him. He clears his throat, and the elf glances at him, sensing a question on the way.

“So,” Sungyoon says, crossing his arms to block out the cold, “how is everyone with scary movies?”

Seungmin laughs quietly. “Don’t sit next to Jibeom or Bomin,” he says, voice near a whisper, leaning closer, “they’ll burst your eardrums.”

“That bad?”

“Just thought I should prepare you,” Seungmin shrugs, smiling. Sungyoon smiles with him, but then his eyes slide to Donghyun skipping ahead of them, joking with Daeyeol, and he tries to keep his voice level, as if just plainly curious.

“What about Donghyun?”

Seungmin hardly seems to be listening, seems to be distracted, glancing around as they walk, in a way that Sungyoon doesn’t entirely believe. “What about him?”

“With scary movies,” Sungyoon says, “how is he?”

Suspicious, Seungmin’s eyes narrow. “Fine.” When Sungyoon just nods, he pokes him with an elbow. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing,” Sungyoon shakes his head, “nothing. Just wondering whether he’d, I don’t know, need a shoulder to cry on-”

“As if.”

“ _What_?” Sungyoon laughs. “It’s a classic move!”

Seungmin gives him a strange look. “Is it?”

“Well, so I’m told,” Sungyoon admits. “I’ve never actually tried it- tell me if it works, would you?”

Though he’s laughing when he hooks Sungyoon’s ankle with his own and sends him stumbling, Seungmin’s voice is self-consciously quiet as he says, “He doesn’t get scared of movies.”

Sungyoon makes sure to jostle his side when he links their arms together, leaning in slyly to mumble, “Then maybe it’s _you_ that needs a shoulder to cry on.”

Another roll of his eyes- Seungmin mutters, “I’m not going to do that, Yoon.”

Sungyoon shrugs. “Why not?”

“Because it’s demeaning!” Daeyeol turns to glance at them over his shoulder, frowning, and Seungmin lowers his volume, wincing. “Besides, he knows I’m not that type either.”

Sighing, Sungyoon tightens his grip on Seungmin’s arm, close to his side to hide from the cold breeze, and they walk like that all the way to the house, arm in arm, matching step, talking more quietly than Donghyun’s excited jabbering and Daeyeol’s replying laughter, as the sun starts to slip below the horizon. Seungmin draws his arm away as the door opens, and Bomin shows them inside, into the already crowded living room.

“You’re here!” Jibeom cries from one sofa. “Finally!”

The bundle of blankets stretched out beside him groans. “Volume, Ji,” a rough voice says, and then the blankets turn and reveal a pale figure lying on his side, red eyes slowly opening, groggy as if just wakening. Jibeom winces.

“My bad. Jangjun’s feeling a little... _rough_ right now.”

Donghyun hums a laugh. “I can see that.” He’s the only one who doesn’t hesitate at the door, marching inside and collapsing on the floor below the armchair Joochan is lounging in, resting back against it, so he’s close to where Jangjun’s head rests on the sofa cushion. The white woolen jumper he's drowning in, the way his hair's parted at the side and styled nicely, only serve to make Jangjun, in comparison, look wilder. The dark rings around Jangjun’s eyes Sungyoon had noticed earlier have deepened, so the whites of his eyes are just as startlingly bright as the now seemingly permanent red of his irises.

“Loving the liner, Jun," Donghyun says, "it really brings out the crazy in your eyes.”

“I hate you a whole bunch right now, werewolf,” Jangjun drawls, voice raspy, and Donghyun laughs and pats the ball of fur curled up at Jangjun’s chest. The tabby mewls at him sleepily.

Jibeom shuffles further from the armrest and Daeyeol goes to beside him, eyeing Jangjun on Jibeom's other side with caution. Seungmin, more awkwardly, takes the seat Youngtaek offers him, perching on the edge of the other sofa as the witch sits on the armrest beside Daeyeol. Bomin pats the cushion between him and Seungmin, and Sungyoon shuffles over.

“Food,” Donghyun says immediately.

Youngtaek grimaces, glancing down at the wad of blankets as Jangjun struggles to sit up. “You didn’t eat already?”

“It’s a movie night!” Donghyun objects. “Of course not!”

Bomin huffs. “You mean we have to wait for some horrendous mortal food to get here before we start the movie?”

“ _Please_ ,” Donghyun laughs, “it’s gonna take us most of that time to decide on the movie anyway, you and Youngtaek always fight.”

Bomin frowns. “That’s not true.”

“It kinda is,” Youngtaek admits in a mumble.

Jibeom interrupts before an argument can break out. “What did you want to order?”

“Need you ask?”

Jibeom rolls his eyes. “Just checking.” He looks for a second as if he’s going to stand, but he’s just shuffling forward, leaning far enough that the palm of his hand can sit flat on the coffee table. He taps it twice onto the wood and then raises it- Sungyoon must have blinked, because the next thing he knows, there are two boxes, one stacked on top of the other, sitting on the table before them. Donghyun throws one of them open, whooping, leaning closer to smell the pepperoni pizza that had just magically appeared before their eyes. Sungyoon blinks down at the boxes dumbly. None of the others had even reacted.

“I-I thought you said you worked with nature-”

Jibeom holds a finger in the air, “My power is _derived_ from nature, there’s a difference. Besides,” he adds, as if it were an obvious explanation, “it’s almost the full moon.”

Donghyun picks a piece of meat from his pizza and wafts it around in the air beside Jangjun, making tutting sounds.

Red eyes glare at him. “Come any closer and I _will_ bite your finger off.”

Donghyun retracts his hand pretty quickly after that. Jaehyun, now in human form, makes a fuss about letting Jangjun pick the movie, but can’t succeed as much in motivating Jangjun enough to make the actual decision, so after a while of bickering Daeyeol selects one at random. It’s a regular slasher-flick that makes Daeyeol and Jangjun laugh and everyone else cringe, and Youngtaek jumps so high at all the scares that Jibeom screams every time, more scared of the boy beside him than what’s playing on the television. Jaehyun looks slightly nauseous when the credits finally roll, and Bomin’s insistence that it was dumb are laughed away because of the way the colour has left his cheeks. Mainly out of sympathy, Youngtaek gets his way with the next movie, a wacky older film Sungyoon had never heard of, three ridiculous witch characters shrieking laughter, lightning flashing, Jaehyun’s round eyes fixated on the screen.

Cautiously, Sungyoon glances at the pile of blankets that have been more or less kicked out of the way, where Jangjun sits up with his knees to his chest, the collar of a dark turtleneck sweater drawn over his chin and mouth so his red eyes seem to float in the darkness. 

“That's not even close to the right incantation!” Jibeom’s crying. “Maybe if you didn’t consume garbage like this you’d have an easier time with your spells, Taek.”

Jangjun rolls his eyes, a flicker of light from the spell-casting on the television for a moment catching in the crimson, and Sungyoon quickly looks away as the gaze almost lands on him.

There’s a beat of silence, as if Jangjun had forgotten what he was going to say, and then he huffs “Don’t be mean,” a beat too late.

“Let him be,” Bomin sighs, “at least it’s more entertaining than the movie.”

Daeyeol laughs before he can stop himself and grimaces guiltily when Youngtaek frowns at him. His voice is soft and amused, as he says, “It really is terrible, Taek.”

“I like it,” Jangjun announces.

Jibeom raises a brow. “Yeah? What’s it about?”

The complete silence that follows is surprising enough that Sungyoon risks another glance and is shocked to see Jangjun gnawing at his lip, squinting at the empty air above the television, deep in thought.

“Anything?” Joochan prompts. “Anything at all?”

Jangjun tries lamely, “There’s...witches…”

“Jun!” Youngtaek cries.

“I’ve been trying, OK, it’s just kind of hard to concentrate right now!”

Unceremoniously, Jibeom reaches for the blankets and throws them further up Jangjun’s legs. “You’re shivering.”

The blankets are kicked off again immediately. Jaehyun yelps in surprise as they topple onto him. “I’m not cold,” Jangjun says.

Joochan tuts. “There’s nothing we can do?”

Jangjun’s head falls back against the back of the sofa, his eyes slipping shut. “It’d be great if you could stop asking questions,” he suggests, the edges of his lips turning up despite the fatigue in his expression. Joochan laughs, and Jibeom rolls his eyes, though reaches for the remote and turns the television to a lower volume. Jangjun sighs.

“How about a game?” Youngtaek suggests, no longer interested in the movie. “It might help distract you from…”

Bomin shuffles so he’s no longer facing the screen, crossing his ankles on top of the coffee table. “What game?”

Youngtaek sticks out his bottom lip. “I hadn’t got that far.”

“Well-” Joochan’s voice cuts off, his eyes flickering to Sungyoon suddenly. “Are you alright?”

Laughing at Joochan’s bewildered expression, Sungyoon nods. “It was just a shiver,” he reassures him, and Bomin, who’s now eyeing him cautiously.

Daeyeol’s mouth drops open, aghast. “You’re _cold?_ ”

“Some of us don’t have crazy supernatural powers, alright!” Sungyoon cries, making Jibeom laugh with the sincerity of the offence in his voice.

Youngtaek half-rises from his perch. “I can make tea?” he asks, and Sungyoon sees the fear of Youngtaek working the electrical equipment flash over at least four faces.

“No need,” Jibeom snorts. “Just put him next to Jun. I’ll trade you places, Yoon, I’m shrivelling up like a prune over here.”

Seungmin’s lips twist into a grimace. “What an image.”

Before he can even think to protest, Jibeom is standing and dragging Sungyoon up by the wrist, spinning them so Sungyoon falls onto the couch beside Jangjun and Jibeom takes his place beside Seungmin.

Jangjun’s watching him, as Sungyoon shuffles, red eyes alert, the corners of his lips turned up into that almost-smile that makes Sungyoon so uncertain of him. Sungyoon offers what he’s well aware is a horribly awkward grin as he settles a little too far away from Jangjun for the avoidance not to be noticeable, but Jangjun just smiles, too, and throws a blanket at him. It’s still warm, like the towels Sungyoon remembers swaddling himself with when he was younger, when his mother had just pulled them from the dryer, and there's a scent to it too- Jangjun's, he realises. He’s never really thought about his smell before, but maybe that’s something that changes with the full moon too, because it’s unmistakable now, an earthy kind of freshness, the smell of autumn, stronger than it should be.

“Maybe it should just be time for bed,” Daeyeol’s saying- Sungyoon’s head whips too quickly too look at him, but the others are too busy protesting to notice his strange reaction to being brought out of his thoughts.

“Don’t be such a bore!”

“It’s not even twelve!”

Daeyeol raises both palms in the air to ward of the arguing. “Jangjun’s not well-”

“Then send _him_ upstairs,” Jibeom complains.

Jangjun laughs wrly. “Thanks for the concern, Ji.”

“No one has even decided on a game,” Daeyeol points out. “Knowing you all, it’ll take an age-”

“Actually…” Sungyoon starts, then hesitates, as they all immediately turn to him. He clears his throat, pulling the blanket Jangjun had given him further up his chest. “Well, I was just thinking, I still have a few questions-”

Donghyun chuckles mercilessly. “Just a _few?_ ”

 _“And I thought_ maybe we could play a game and you could answer them that way,” Sungyoon suggests, raising his volume to talk over the interruption. “To make it more fun. We could do two truths and a lie.”

They turn back to Daeyeol as if for permission, and the vampire considers the idea with a tilt of his head, gaze focused on the ceiling. “How do you play?”

Joochan raises a brow. “Isn’t it pretty self-explanatory?”

“I’ll go first,” Seungmin says, surprising them all with his enthusiasm, shuffling so he’s sitting perched on the edge of the sofa, fingers steepled under his chin. “OK, I....can eat human food, I’m affected by the full moon, and I’ll turn 18 in february.”

Maybe it’s at trick, Sungyoon thinks, because it seems far too easy for a game of Seungmin’s invention. He thinks there’s nothing to do but follow his intuition and fall for it anyway, though, so Sungyoon guesses, “The food one has to be the lie, right?”

Seungmin shakes his head. “Nuh-uh.”

“What? But you never-”

“I _can_ eat human food,” Seungmin says, holding a finger up, “it just tastes terrible.”

He supposes that makes sense, with all of the snide comments he and Daeyeol have made about the pizzas, and hamburgers, and all of the other junk foods Donghyun’s not allowed to eat anymore. 

“So which one’s the lie?” Sungyoon asks.

It’s not very comforting, how Seungmin’s usual icy expression turns sly. “How old d’you think I am?”

_That one? Why did it have to be that one?_

Sungyoon hikes the blanket higher as if he’s trying to disappear under it. “....Come on.”

“I thought you wanted to know,” Seungmin opposes, laughing, clearly taking immense delight from the buffering blankness of Sungyoon’s expression. “I’m not _that_ old. Just a few decades older than you think.”

“ _Decades?”_ Sungyoon cries. Joochan chuckles. _“Plural?”_

“Wait ‘till he finds out about Jibeom,” Bomin says, with a wicked smile.

Sungyoon clamps both hands around his ears. “You know what,” he says, “maybe I don’t want to play anymore.”

Someone chuckles and Sungyoon feels a tug at his elbow; Jangjun pulls one of his arms down, still grinning. “But I’ve got three,” he says, and Sungyoon is left to nod dumbly and attempt to focus on what he’s saying. “One: no one else in my family is like this. Two: I turned when I was seven. Three: My fangs are sharper than Daeyeol's.” This last statement is said with a smirk that’s all bearing teeth, and Jangjun flicks the end of a canine with a fingernail. When Sungyoon glances at him, Daeyeol’s rolling his eyes, and the others look like they’re trying to hold in laughs.

He frowns. “That’s...that doesn’t sound like it should be true, but I think it is, with how you’re all acting. So the lie’s...you didn’t turn when you were seven?”

Donghyun whistles an impressed note. “You’re two-for-two, loser.”

Sungyoon slaps him, and Jangjun laughs. “My brother’s lycan too,” he explains.

“Damn... I’m not very good at this.”

Daeyeol pats his knee kindly. “We didn’t expect you to be,” he says. Sungyoon thinks he meant it to be comforting.

“How are a wolf’s teeth sharper than a vampire’s though?” Sungyoon says. He turns his head so he’s looking up at Daeyeol. “Isn’t that your whole thing?”

The lycan scoffs. “All _Daeyeol_ needs to do is break skin.”

Donghyun winces. “Maybe we shouldn’t be telling him this if we want him to like us.”

“He should know-”

“ _He_ is right here,” Sungyoon huffs, “and can talk for himself.” Though Donghyun grimaces, a caricaturish, wide stretch of his lips, Janjgun just barks a laugh.

Bomin clears his throat, loud enough to startle Sungyoon into glancing at him, on the other sofa. “Maybe it _is_ time for bed,” he says. There’s a strange, hard look in his eyes, his gaze stuck on Jangjun. 

Donghyun collapses onto his back on the carpet. “I’m surrounded by kill-joys,” he groans, and then, quickly raising his head from the carpet, adds hastily, “I’m not rooming with Taek.”

“ _No one’s_ being subjected to that room,” Jibeom agrees. “Daeyeol will go with Jangjun, I’ll take Sungyoon, Joochan can go in Bomin’s room, and Donghyun can go with Seungmin in Jaehyun’s room.”

“But-” Jaehyun looks up at them all, wide eyed, as they get to their feet, stretch tired limbs over their heads, “where does that leave me?”

Jibeom shrugs. “The sofa?”

“Why do I always get the sofa?” Jaehyun whines.

“You’re a cat, it’s not as if you need the space,” Bomin points out, and then leaps out of the way to avoid the hand that slashes through the air, something sharp catching the light, as Jaehyun hisses. “Bad kitty.”

Daeyeol rolls his eyes and shoves the angel on the shoulder toward the door. “Get, before he scratches you to ribbons again.”

With one last grin over his shoulder, Bomin’s dragging Joochan away up the stairs, and Jibeom throws an arm around Sungyoon’s shoulders, mouth gaping in a yawn.

“Shall we?” he says, and Sungyoon laughs, and lets himself be pulled out of the room.

  
  
  



	26. Sharp Edges

Sungyoon is woken by a crash and a muffled voice some time not dark enough to be midnight, not bright enough to be anywhere near dawn. Jibeom’s room is dim, the slow rise and fall of the huddled figure on the bed only just visible in the dim light that streams through the window, and Sungyoon rubs at his eyes, so stunned to be awake that the tiredness is shed immediately, and he stands and quickly pads to the door. Out on the landing he pauses, wondering what he’s listening for, maybe another crash, but nothing comes, and he gives in to the temptation just to go down and check on the source of the noise. The house and its inhabitants are still exciting to him, still new enough that he wants to explore, out of view for once with the others all sleeping. He gets to the ground floor before he realises there might be someone sleeping on the sofa, someone that might spot him, but it would only be Jaehyun, and when he pokes his head through the door cautiously there’s no one in sight. The door to the kitchen is edged with light, streaming through the cracks, and there’s the gentle sound of running water. Sungyoon steps closer, the faucet cuts off. He takes another soft step-

“I know you’re there, Yoon, you can stop trying to sneak up on me.”

The voice is quiet, but audible even through the door because of the silence of the rest of the house, and Sungyoon’s heart picks up a pace or two at the sound of it, so immediately familiar, raspy with sleep and something else, and he pushes through into the kitchen to see Jangjun by the sink, back to the counters as if he’d been staring at the door, already watching him.

“How’d you know it was me?”

Jangjun just grins. His eyes are still scarlet, still startlingly white and rimmed with black, every color a striking reminder of what’s happening with him. He’ll be going away again, soon. Tomorrow. Joochan had been talking about it when Sungyoon had left the room to go to the bathroom, only stopped when Jangjun had barked at him to be quiet, somehow sensing Sungyoon listening just outside the door, just as he’d sensed him now.

The lycan tilts his head, red eyes heavy. “Trouble sleeping?”

Sungyoon shuffles a little further into the room, glancing around. There’s a full glass of water on the counter, but Jangjun seems to have forgotten about it. “I heard something.”

“Just me,” Jangjun grins. “You can go back to bed.”

“Should Daeyeol be letting you wander around by yourself?”

A faint frown line appears between Jangjun's brows. “Daeyeol’s not going to stop me _wandering around_ in my own house. You don’t think I can be trusted getting a glass of water?

Again, Sungyoon’s eyes fly to the abandoned glass on the countertop. “Can you?”

Jangjun half-turns and settles a hand on the cup, condensation chilling the tips of his fingers, watching a water droplet fall down the glass. He doesn’t lift it, just looks at it for a moment. Sungyoon notices the dark sweater he’d been wearing has been switched for a tank that reminds him shamefully of his first visit here, Donghyun’s goading, his ridiculous nerves. There are goosebumps running up Jangjun’s arms.

Jangjun looks up from the glass, laughs soundlessly. “Go back to bed," he whispers.

“Are you really leaving tomorrow?” Sungyoon asks. He doesn’t move any closer to the door.

Jangjun studies him, red eyes flickering across his face. “I think it would be for the best, yes.”

It hadn’t been this early before. There hadn’t been this many days of Jangjun missing, of wandering around campus and trying to pretend his absence wasn’t so terribly obvious, wasn’t always at the back of his mind, even when he was surrounded by the others.

Sungyoon feels braver, or maybe more desperate, at this early hour, with darkness surrounding their little pocket of light in the kitchen, now it's just the two of them. “This has something to do with me, doesn’t it?”

A flicker of surprise passes over Jangjun’s face, but it’s gone in an instant, replaced with a dry smile as he settles back against the counters, hands resting on the door handles of the drawers either side of him- Sungyoon can’t help but think there’s something unnatural to it, something forced in the way he’s standing.

“Why ask, if you already know?” he asks. When Sungyoon hesitates, he shrugs. “It’s obvious, isn't it? Why I have to be more cautious now. I can’t hurt the others the way I- the way any of us- could hurt you. It’s better to be careful.”

There’s a clock ticking, somewhere, though Sungyoon can’t see one in the kitchen, a tic-tock, tick-tock that seems thunderously loud in the moments of silence that it takes for Sungyoon to sort his thoughts into an argument. “But why not just stay here for a few days, before leaving? I’d stay away.”

Jangjun's frown looks strangely like a smile. “What’s the difference, if you wouldn’t see me either way?”

There _had_ been a difference, until he’d heard that question, and now Sungyoon doesn’t know what to say. _What was he thinking?_ Jangjun’s grin is widening as he watches him fumble, come up short, and the idea that’d been in the back of Sungyoon’s mind since he’d saw the other boy standing at the sink and watching him with sly crimson eyes rises again, more convincing. Somehow it’s easier than trying to think of something to say, so Sungyoon gives in.

He hears Jangjun’s breath catch as he steps forward, as if the other boy knows what he’s going to do before he’s doing it, hands either side of Jangjun’s face, feeling the feverish heat of his skin. He’s hardly started pulling Jangjun towards him before the other boy’s rushing forward, and there’s suddenly no space between them. Jangjun’s arms wrap tight around his waist, pulling him as close as possible, as Sungyoon tilts his head, fingers carding through the dark strands of Jangjun’s hair. He pushes as strongly as Jangjun pulls at him, and he can feel Jangjun’s smile, as the counter cuts into the lycan’s back, as if Sungyoon’s trying to prove his strength. But Jangjun kisses like he’s drowning, and he’s breathless, weak-kneed as Jangjun manoeuvres them, caging Sungyoon in instead, an elbow resting on the wall either side of his face. There’s a moment when they detach, Jangjun’s eyes burning crimson, Sungyoon’s breathing shallow, but the moment’s just as quickly broken, Jangjun diving back in, Sungyoon wrapping both arms around his neck. Teeth graze Sungyoon's lip, sharp, and his stomach jolts like he's falling- he pulls, and Jangjun braces himself more heavily against the wall but lets himself be tugged, laughing darkly as Sungyoon raises his chin, and Jangjun’s lips settle in the crook of his neck. He squirms when Jangjun nips the skin there, eyes fluttering open. He goes to say something, but Jangjun must sense what it is, and Sungyoon freezes as he feels teeth grazing his skin again, then a sharp, fleeting pain. Jangjun draws away, but Sungyoon’s hand at the back of his head holds him in place, and he stills.

“Yoon.”

Sungyoon tips his head back against the wall. “Too much talking.”

Jangjun laughs, just as breathless, but one of his arms drops from the wall, and a fingertip ghosts the soft flesh at Sungyoon’s neck, the angry red marks there. “This’ll bruise.”

Sungyoon only nods, and Jangjun catches himself against the wall, alarmed, as a hand cards through his hair and pulls again. “Wait-”

Impatiently, Sungyoon’s hand falls away. “You’ll be gone for days,” he says, and Jangjun’s jumbled brain struggles to understand what he’s talking about. “Don’t you want to leave something that’ll annoy him?”

Jangjun can still feel Sungyoon’s touch, the pressure on the back of his neck, can still hear the catches of his breath replaying in his ears. The marks on his neck are only deepening, and Jangjun’s mind is still whirring by the sudden change in his demeanour, still trying to convince himself he hadn’t imagined the look in Sungyoon’s eyes as he’d stepped forward to close the distance. And Sungyoon is thinking about _Jeonghan?_

“Is that all this is about?”

Sungyoon frowns, hearing his words from a few days prior repeated back to him. “Of course not-”

Scoffing, Jangjun steps away- something has just occurred to him, the vague memory of something they'd been talking about last night around the television, something Sungyoon had taken an interest in, that sets a sinking feeling in his stomach. His red eyes are hot in a different way now, a hard set to his jaw as he puts the pieces together. “Nothing will happen if I bite you, Yoon,” he says, eyes burning into Sungyoon’s, voice sharp. “You know that, don’t you?”

Sungyoon hesitates just a moment too long. “That’s not what I-”

Jangjun shakes his head, taking another step backwards- the confusion Sungyoon had affected doesn’t match up to the spike of alarm in the air. It’s not sincere. “I can’t believe you.”

“Jangjun-”

 _“Are you kidding?_ ” His voice is far louder now, wilder, and Sungyoon winces, raising both palms, conscious of all the other boys sleeping above them, Jaehyun curled up somewhere, Daeyeol in Jangjun’s room, awake as usual. Jangjun doesn’t lower his volume. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Sungyoon reaches for him, close to pleading. “Wait, Jun, please, it wasn’t just-” there’s a shattering crash of glass as Jangjun rips his arm away and catches the glass still sitting on the counter, knocking it to the floor, breaking it into fragments.

Almost instantly, there’s a knock at the door. Daeyeol pushes it open, squinting, voice low and soft in the sudden deathly silence- “Jangjun? Are you al...” His eyes flicker between the two of them and the shattered glass, Sungyoon’s contorted expression, Jangjun’s scowl. “What’s going on in here?”

“Nothing,” Janjgun says, already shouldering past him. “I was just coming back upstairs.”

Daeyeol stumbles, pushed back into the living room, but Sungyoon doesn’t even have time to catch his breath before he’s stepping back into the room, frowning. “Is something wrong?”

The glass glints wickedly in the light as Sungyoon crouches and starts picking it carefully from the tile. Though he notices the avoidance of his question, Daeyeol steps closer, a hand on Sungyoon shoulder as if to stop him.

“Leave it," he says kindly, "one of us can-”

A spike of irritation raises Sungyoon’s voice. “ _Jesus_ , Dae, it’s just a shattered glass!"

The hand slips from his shoulder. Sungyoon rushes to his feet.

“I didn’t-”

“It’s fine,” Daeyeol says. His smile is forgiving, if uncertain, and he pats Sungyoon’s arm gently. “Whatever it is, it can wait until the morning.”

“I’m sorry,” Sungyoon tries again.

Daeyeol shakes his head. “Get back to bed,” he says, and this time, Sungyoon listens.


	27. Speedbumps

  
  


They leave before the others are even out of bed, Joochan elegant as ever and waiting in the living room, fully dressed, when Jangjun tumbles down the stairs. He hadn’t been able to sleep, and it’s clearly written all over him- Joochan takes a sip of whatever it is he’s drinking just to hide a smile. Bomin tags along, partly because Joochan refuses to learn how to work any human technology (cars include) and partly, Jangjun thinks, just to make things worse for them all. He’d somehow sensed that there’s something other than the obvious reason for Jangjun to be miserable today going on, and had been bringing it up in increasingly less subtle ways since they’d left the house.

Now, he slides the car into second gear and crawls painfully slowly over a speedbump. “It’s a long drive,” he says, half-turning his face to glance at Jangjun in the passenger seat. “Plenty of time to talk things over. Or, you know, pointlessly stew in your self pity by yourself.”

“The drive wouldn’t be that long if you would actually get past third gear,” Jangjun mutters, following a flock of birds above them slowly with his gaze, red eyes half-lidded with fatigue, looking as if at any moment he could dissolve into the leather of the beat-up truck Jibeom had bought and then immediately abandoned in their garage. They all live so close to campus that only he and Bomin ever bother to use it. Joochan’s reclining in the back seat, legs crossed, gazing out of the window, princely in a powder blue suit, his hair now suddenly a snowy platinum-white. 

“I mean, it’s pretty obvious already what this has to be about-”

Jangjun groans and drops his forehead onto the dashboard. “Smite me down, somebody.”

Bomin’s lips quirk upwards. “Not until I know the story.”

“For the last time-”

“What’s so hard about it?" Bomin interrupts, spreading his hands out on top of the steering wheel. "Really, it’s not as if there’s anything I wouldn’t tell you.”

Jangjun sits up with a roll of his eyes. “That’s because you have no filter, Min. And because you’re such a holy little goody-two-wings you’ve never done anything interesting anyway.”

“Hey,” Joochan says from the back seat. The short, usually effective warning is completely ignored by the two boys in the front seats.

“ _ Interesting? _ ” Bomin laughs. There’s an icy note to his voice that makes it clear Jangjun has struck a nerve, which means there’s no way this is ending well. “D’you think wallowing in your pity all the time is interesting too? I swear, you’re even worse than normal near the full-”

“Would you stop bringing that up!” Jangjun cries. “ _ Christ _ Bomin, if you could stop guilt tripping me for something I had no choice in it would  _ really  _ be appreciated right now.”

“Peace,” Joochan sighs, “both of you. We know how this conversation goes by now.”

But Bomin’s already speaking, and he goes unheard again. “See, that’s is exactly what I mean! Get over it already, Jun, it’s not as if you’re changing it now-”

“ _Min_ ,” Jangjun warns. There’s a spark in his eye that Joochan is dismayed to recognise, and he’s speaking strangely, lips pulled back even for the one short syllable, and the light gleams wickedly off of too-sharp teeth.

The angel’s on a roll, though, staring at the road ahead of them and, as always with Bomin, entirely unconscious of the fact that running his mouth right now is about the equivalent to actually slapping Jangjun across the face, and will be just as equally appreciated.

“And now you get angry with me,” he preaches on, “like you get angry at us every month, as if  _ we  _ had anything to do with it-”

Joochan lurches forward just in time to slam Jangjun back over to his side of the car, stopping a very ugly mauling that Bomin was entirely blind too just on time to avoid blood splattering all over the upholstery. Bomin blinks, wide eyed and startled.

“Next time you decide to anger a rabid wolf, can you do it when we're not both trapped in a car with it?” Joochan says, perfectly calm amongst the storm, and the angel’s attention flies back to the windshield.

“Right.”

Joochan nods, fixing his collar, but remains where he is, in the middle seat, holding himself there with a hand clutching the back of Jangjun’s chair. “And you,” he says, unable to stop the exasperation colouring his voice, “you know better than to let him rile you up like that.”

“I can’t-”

“You  _ can _ help it," Joochan bites, "and you _will_ , at least until we get to the house. Then, by all means, content yourself with tearing up the yard or chasing the squirrels.” Jangjun glares at him with eyes still gleaming trouble, but Joochan raises a brow. “Control yourself already.”

Jangjun lets out a breath huff of laughter. “Yeah, great! We’ve only got two hours left. I’ll just sit here silently and enjoy myself, will I?”

Joochan melts back into the back seats. “That sounds wonderful.”

They make it another five minutes before Bomin starts his inquiries again and Jangjun starts repeatedly hitting his head against the dashboard. Even to a Fae who’d thought himself to have infinite patience, the drive seems to last an eternity. Eventually, they pull up to the manor, and Joochan ushers Jangjun through to the sun-room and the sound of the car engine fades out of earshot. At least Bomin had been smart enough to not outstay his welcome. That means now Joochan only has to deal with one boy with anger-management problems in his house, instead of two.

“Sit,” the Fae says. Jangjun collapses into a settee without even considering disobeying. His legs ache even when he’s lying down.  “Can I get you anything?”

“I’m sorry you have to put up with me,” Jangjun says instead. His eyes are closed, though Joochan can’t tell whether it’s because of fatigue or shame. The turbulent moods he goes through often lead to these aggressive bursts being followed swiftly by longer periods of despair.

Joochan drops onto the end of the settee, suddenly feeling just as tired.

“You can return the favour,” he says, “by telling me what happened last night.”

Jangjun huffs something that’s almost a laugh. He’s used to the give-and-take by now, knows to expect Joochan’s help without forgetting his nature. Fae don’t give help for nothing.

“Alright.”

There’s really no use avoiding it- Bomin is quicker to anger, and more insistent when he’s angry, but the kind of irritated, aggravated curiosity of his is no match to the unending patience of a Fae who wants something. If he doesn’t outlast him, Joochan would trick him into admitting it, anyway.

“Bomin was right," he admits, sounding like every word is painful to spit out. "It’s about Sungyoon.”

A teacup appears in Joochan’s hands, steam wafting from the purple ink-like liquid within, as he crosses his ankles atop a low mahogany coffee table. “Would you like me to act surprised?” he asks, then raises his free hand up to his lips in a soundless gasp.

Jangjun rolls his eyes. “Very funny.”

Still, he hesitates. Knowing he’s going to have to tell Joochan  _ eventually _ isn’t the same as suddenly wanting to yell his problems from the rooftops. 

_Is running away still an option?_ He'd get pretty far, but then the only thing around for miles is woodland, and even entertaining the idea as a joke he knows he shouldn't leave the house, anyway. 

“Go on,” Joochan says, through a sigh that disrupts the steam from his cup.

With a groan, Jangjun gives up plotting his daring escape and starts, “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I went to get a drink-”

Joochan's clever eyes flicker to his. “Alone?”

“Yes,  _ alone,"  _ Jangjun growls. "Why does everyone think I’ll cause havoc if I’m left alone for three whole seconds?”

“Well  _ something _ happened,” Joochan points out.

Jangjun snaps his mouth shut, annoyed. “Yes, alright,  _ something _ happened.” He tries to go on, but the words won’t come, and he doesn’t know how much he wants to tell Joochan, or even how to begin explaining, so he grumbles and pulls himself up straighter on the couch. Joochan lets him think, politely sipping his tea, or whatever it is, in companionable silence until Jangjun decides how to continue. After a moment, he says cautiously, “I hadn’t thought about it before, Chan, but do you think maybe...maybe it isn’t  _ good, _ for him to accept us so quickly?”

Joochan surprises him by laughing. “Well of course not,” he says. “That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”

Of course, he's thinking about the full moon- it's the reason they're here again, after all. Jangjun shakes his head. “I don’t mean  _ now, _ I mean: ever. Do you think maybe it’s not good for him to be friends with us  _ ever _ ?”

Though he frowns, Joochan must be beginning to understand, because he ask, “Because he’s human?”

“Kind of," Jangjun says, and then when the Fae glances at him irritably for the avoidance, adds, "Chan...I don’t think he wants to be.”

Purple-tinted smoke swirls as Joochan sets the teacup on the coffee table. “Friends with us?

“ _ No, _ ” Jangjun grumbles, pulling at his hair. The light has started to hurt his eyes, and the pounding headache he'd had since morning has only worsened. “Human.”

“Oh, don’t be absurd," Joochan chuckles. When Jangjun glowers at him, clearly serious, his mirth dims a little. “Well, what happened last night?”

_Here we go. Just say it, Jangjun, just come right out and say it._ His mouth opens and closes uselessly.

Joochan raises a brow. "Jun, really."

“Ok, we- he tried to- well, I almost-”

Thankfully, Joochan has a habbit of reading his mind, and he jumps to the right conclusion before Jangjun can choke out any more embarrased half-sentences. "I see." His eyes lift to the window opposite them, staring out at the grounds in contemplation. "You can’t change him," he says, after a while.

Jangjun throws up his hands. “That’s what I told him."

“He’s never mentioned it before? Wanting to be-”

“No!" Jangjun huffs immediately, then seems to reconsider. "Well- well, not in so many words. He doesn’t like Jeonghan hovering around him all the time. He isn’t used to someone being able to drag and bruise him and not take him seriously.”

Joochan shrugs. “That sounds rather reasonable to me.”

“It’s one boy!”

“One  _ Fae, _ ” Joochan corrects. “To Sungyoon, I doubt Jeonghan is just ‘one boy.’ Last month, Sungyoon didn't even know people like me and you even _existed._ Can’t you imagine how irritating it must be, to not be able to stand up for yourself, when some supernatural decides to attach himself permanently to your side?.”

Jangjun hates how much it sounds like Joochan's describing _him._ He manages to splutter out, “Of course-”

“And how would you like to rely on people that will be gone every month, and wont be able to help you either?”

“It's not as if I left him by himself,” Jangjun argues, red eyes flashing. "The others can help him."

Joochan nods in a way that's more _I'm-going-to-prove-you-wrong_ than _I-agree-with-you_. “I doubt he wants them to," he muses. "I imagine it would get embarrassing, don’t you think? Always asking for help. He hasn’t known us very long, after all.”

“It’s too dangerous," Jangjun snarls. "And too extreme- really, Chan, it’s downright insane to even consider it!”

Joochan holds his hands up in surrender. “I know, I know," he reassures, sounding as calm as ever, more than acclimatised to the way Jangjun's anger spikes at times like this. "Don’t think I’m not agreeing with you. I wouldn’t want to see him changed either. But in the end, it’s not my decision. It’s between Sungyoon himself and whoever he can manage to convince-”

“Are you even hearing yourself?”

“Perfectly clear, Jangjun, thank you.” “When you’ve cooled down enough you’ll forgive him, and  _ then _ you’ll understand that to Sungyoon it seems like the perfect solution, but it doesn’t have to happen. You think Donghyun would be any more thrilled at the prospect of turning him?”

“He’s not the only one of us who could,” Jangjun says darkly. 

The next few days are going to be tough, Joochan thinks, if he's already in the suspicious lone-wolf phase.

But at least he can answer this concern, even if Jangjun probably won't believe him. “Jibeom would raise such a fuss that Daeyeol wouldn’t  _ dream _ of it., even if he wanted to. And you know that. You’re just worried. And-”

“Say protective right now, Chan, and I  _ will _ maul you.”

Joochan’s eyes light on his face, and a thin smile pulls at his lips. “I don’t have to say it," he girins, "you did it yourself.”

Groaning, Jangjun throws himself further down the settee like a toddler throwing a tantrum. “Go to Hell.” He’s too tired for it to sound sincere, but he’d wanted to say it the entire car ride and couldn’t, not to Bomin, not even when he was angry, so it feels good to let it out now.

Joochan puts his hands together as if he were about to begin praying. “Should I call Bomin back?” he asks, smirking.

Jangjun kicks him so hard he’s shoved off the settee and onto the carpet.

  
  



	28. M.I.A

Sungyoon turns around outside the dormitory doors and sighs.

“We’re back to this now, are we?”

The tabby blinks up at him from the grass, a few feet away. Sungyoon stares at him for a second, and then deflates, and walks the short distance between them, crouching so he’s closer to eye-level.

“You know, you could just show up as yourself.”

The cat meows and nudges at his hand with a paw.

“I _know_ this is you _,_ I just meant _human_ you,” Sungyoon says, then draws back. He’s talking to the cat now. Even knowing it isn’t _actually_ just a cat, he feels silly. It’s not as if Jaehyun can talk back to him like this.

“Can you turn back here?” He asks, hoping a nod isn’t out of the question, and the tabby meows again. “I want someone to talk to,” Sungyoon tells him, guessing at the meaning of the mewl, and he must be close, because the tabby tips his head as if to say _alright, then_ and trots into the shade between the dormitory buildings. For a moment, Sungyoon hesitates, but then Jaehyun pokes his head out of the shadows, scratches his head bashfully, disrupting already messy orange curls, and pads toward him.

“There,” Sungyon sighs. “This is better, isn't it?”

“Jangjun didn’t tell me to spy on you,” Jaehyun says immediately. Sungyoon winces. He didn’t think Jaehyun would know about that.

“It’s OK. But um...my class doesn’t actually start for an hour, so I was gonna go for a run-”

Jeehyun nods desperately. “I’ll come with you.” He’s in the same clothes he’s always wearing, a brown trench coat and yellow scarf, a patterned sweater and washed out jeans partly visible beneath, and Sungyoon doesn’t know whether to spend more time wondering how on earth he’s still wearing them after being in cat form, or whether it’s rude to tell Jaehyun he’s probably not cut out to come with him. Someone built like a beansprout and wearing at least three layers of clothing might keel over in the first ten minutes of one of his runs.

Instead, he cautiously asks, “Are you sure?”

Another nod, just as enthusiastic. “Uh huh.” 

Sungyoon blinks at him, then laughs. There seems to be no swaying him and, anyway, he can’t help but think it might be funny, in a kind of fondly sadistic way. Jaehyun always makes him want to poke fun, like a particularly endearing baby brother.

“Alright.”

It starts out alright, he supposes, though he has to badger Jaehyun into doing a warmup, and the tips of the younger boy’s ears go bright red when he shows him how to stretch, eyes darting around them as if waiting for Jibeom to come jumping out of the bushes and make fun of his awkward movements. But he’s not a bad runner, at least for the first ten minutes. No keeling over, no complaining either, to give him his credit, just a lot of heavy panting. Then Sungyoon looks over his shoulder to ask him if he’s alright and whether he wants to take a break, and finds a little tabby following at his heels instead. It goes better after that, and they make good progress- in the last spurt, Sungyoon thinks he might tease Jaehyun by speeding into a sprint, but the tabby is faster, and he doesn’t manage to lose him. 

“Alright, alright,” Sungyoon laughs, slowing to a stop. “You’re pretty fast like this.”

The cat mewls at him and collapses onto its belly in a patch of grass, releasing a sigh so heartfelt, it sounds strangely human. Sungyoon laughs, more guiltily this time, and crouches by it.

“We should get you some food.” That seems to break through to him- the tabby drags itself into a street, and after a moment, Jaehyun comes stumbling out, red-faced and still out of breath, smiling bashfully.

There’s a tiny box of a convenience store a few blocks up from the dormitories, and they circle back to it in almost-uncomfortable silence. Sungyoon hasn’t thought about it before, but the majority of conversations they've had before have been one-sided, because Jaehyun had been in cat-form. They haven’t really spoken all that much face to face like this. Maybe Jaehyun’s thinking this too, or maybe he’s just painfully shy and still trying to catch his breath, but whatever it is, they hardly speak until they’re stepping out of the cold and into the welcoming warm air inside the store. It’s difficult to drag himself away from the heater just above the door, but Sungyoon manages it, in favour of stepping up to the cheap little coffee machine built into the wall.

“D’you drink coffee? Tea?”

Jaehyun scrunches his nose up at both of them. Now Sungyoon thinks about it, he doesn’t seem as affected by the cold anyway- if anything, the run seems to have overheated him, and his cheeks are a cheery red, his scarf unravelled. 

_Something cold, then. Something cold, and for a cat._

What was it Jangjun had said? Jaehyun only eats fish. That’s why it had been sushi they’d went for, the first time he’d ate with them. But the convenience store’s cheap selection has so little fish that he’d barely have anything to eat anyway, because he doesn’t touch the rice or the seaweed, so- _what else do cats like?_

Sungyoon opens the nearest refrigerator and plucks a small plastic bottle from the top shelf. “Something sugary? To get your energy back up again?” 

Jaehyun turns to see him holding it out, a bright yellow thing with a straw taped to the side, and tilts his head. “What is it?”

Sungyoon laughs breathlessly. “You don’t get out much, huh?”

Innocently, Jaehyun shakes his head. Sungyoon takes his coffee and two banana milks- Donghyun loves them- up to the counter, feeling Jaehyun hover beside him as he pays and thanks the lady behind the counter. It’s easier to step back into the cold with a hot drink in his hand, some of the adrenaline from his run lingering in his blood, but he still shakes his head in disbelief as Jaehyun takes the banana milk from his hands and presses it gratefully to his forehead. _Why does he even bother with the scarf if he’s never cold?_

“I’m not going to poison you or anything, am I?” Sungyoon asks, as Jaehyun unwraps the straw and unsuccessfully tries to pierce the bottle’s foil. He rolls his eyes, taking it from him and doing it himself, and Jaehyun shakes his head when he accepts it back.

“I don’t think so.”

Not entirely reassuring, but Jaehyun takes a sip without much hesitation, so Sungyoon supposes he shouldn’t be too worried. And it takes less than a second for Jaehyun’s eyes to change, anyway, and with the suddenly split pupils now almost enveloping the white of his eyes, Sungyoon guesses the taste test has been a roaring success. He hands over Donghyun’s one too, and Jaehyun snatches it. Both of them are finished by the time they’ve walked up to the sports building. 

“Time for class,” Sungyoon says, scolding himself for the moment of hesitation he has outside the doors. Jeonghan’s not in sight, but Sungyoon knows better than to hope for his absence- him not waiting by the doors just means he’s already inside, waiting there. 

_Don’t be an idiot. You can’t skip just because of one boy. One Fae. One Fae who doesn’t take no for an answer and is going to be even worse when he realises you’re by yourself and really it would just be so much easier to stay with Jaehyun-_

He reaches for the door handle before he can talk himself out of it. “I should get going.”

“D’you want me to come with you?”

Sungyoon frowns. “You’re not in this class.”

“I could hide in your backpack,” Jaehyun suggests, and Sungyoon snorts, before realising he’s completely sincere.

He ruffles the younger boy’s curls, unable to stop himself, trying not to laugh at the seriousness of his expression. “That’s alright, Jae.”

“Ok. I’ll be here when you’re done.”

“No, that’s-”

“I will,” Jaehyun insists.

Though his instinct is to argue, to insist he’s fine by himself, another part of Sungyoon just wants to give in. Maybe he’s gotten too used to having someone always looking out for him. And anyway, he tells himself, Jaehyun’s so stubborn he won’t be able to change his mind if he tried.

“Only if you’re not waiting here the whole time,” he compromises. “You can’t just linger outside my classroom until I’m done.” 

Jaehyun nods in agreement. _At least someone still listens to me,_ Sungyoon thinks. Then he chastises himself, throws the door open, and steps inside.

It’s not as bad as he expected- that is, it’s almost unbearable, but no more than it usually is. Jeonghan hadn’t been waiting outside, so he must not have realised Jangjun’s not here, which means there’s a lot of talk and crowding into his personal space, but nothing that might be classed as uncharacteristically nasty: no dragging, no bruises, just talk. Sungyoon’s tired, and irritable, but not feeling completely helpless when he leaves class and sees Jaehyun cross-legged on a bench, waiting for him. He sees Jeonghan notice. The second day’s worse.

It’s on the fourth day since Jangjun left- not that Sungyoon’s counting- that the others try to cheer him up by meeting on the rooftop for lunch. Youngtaek and Jibeom also seem to have stolen a space-heater from one of the music rooms and dragged it up the rickety stairwell, so Sungyoon doesn’t immediate turn into an icicle. His backpack meows as he sets it down gently on the frozen concrete.

“Uuuummm,” Jibeom says.

Youngtaek giggles when the tabby cat that’d been hiding in Sungyoon’s back comes padding out and heads toward him. 

Bomin’s brows furrow. He turns to Sungyoon, who’s settling dangerously close to the heater. “You carried Jae here in your bag?”

“He...might have came to class with me,” Sungyoon admits. Jaehyun would probably announce it to them as soon as he was back in human form anyway, so there’s no reason hiding it, though it’s still horribly embarrassing to see everyone’s jaws drop.

“ _What?”_

Jibeom, who’d collapsed into giggles, hits Daeyeol on the back in his glee. The vampire sighs, and looks down at the tabby curled up in Youngtaek's lap. “This is a new low, even for you,” he tells it. Sungyoon could have sworn he sees the little ball of fur actually stick its tongue out.

“Did it help?” Bomin asks.

“It made me feel a little better,” Sungyoon shrugs. “Though it was kind of hard to concentrate on what my lecturer was saying whilst trying to hide the fact that my backpack was purring.”

“Everyone probably knew,” Donghyun helpfully points out. “They’d have smelled him.”

Sensing Sungyoon’s embarrassment, Jibeom leans away from Daeyeol enough to shrug. “For all they know,” he says, “the shifter in your backpack could have been a rabies-infected, feral little monster, instead of this ball of fluff.”

Sungyoon’s laugh catches in his throat. That’d sounded like someone else he knows.

He’s distracted by a grating shrill coming from the tabby as Donghyun leaps for it. “Just so you know,” he tells it, holding Jaehyun limply up in the air, “you have my permission to scratch any tormentors to ribbons, and I _know_ you’re not above biting, so-”

Daeyeol coughs loudly, interrupting him. “Stop, stop, don’t give him any ideas.”

Youngtaek makes grabbing motions in the air, and with a roll of his eyes, Donghyun sets the tabby down again.

“Seungmin’d probably fit in your backpack if you wanted to take him too,” he says, and Seungmin, who’d been so quiet Sungyoon had barely noticed him sitting against the wall, glowers back at him.

“You know, _I’m_ not above biting either,” he warns, and Donghyun giggles and holds his hands up in a repentant gesture.

Maybe the rooftop hadn’t been such a good idea. After Jibeom’s quip, Sungyoon can’t stop thinking about another day they’d all been lounging about here, when someone had brought him a coffee, given him his jacket. Sure, Jibeom had almost definitely committed a felony by bringing that space-heater for him, but there’s clearly something _missing_ , some _one_ missing, and Sungyoon can’t stop thinking about it. Him. About him.

He couldn’t even manage to tell Donghyun about what he'd tried to do. And Daeyeol hadn’t asked, even though there’d been lots of times back at the flat that it had looked like he was going to. Maybe Joochan had gotten it out of Jangjun and called them, or written a letter or whatever the Chan equivalent to a phone call is, and they all already know and they’re trying not to mention it-

He yelps as someone grabs him, and he goes crashing into Bomin’s side.

“I looked it up,” the angel says, wiggling his phone in the air, “and it told me you were definitely too close to that thing.” When Sungyoon gapes at him, not understanding, he points to the heater.

A laugh bubbles up before Sungyoon can stop it. “You googled that?”

Though it’s immensely satisfying to see someone like Bomin flush, Donghyun won’t let him get away with the teasing for long. He raises a brow slyly. “Need I remind you of your browser history, Yoon?”

“Oh yeah,” Jibeom laughs, scrunching his nose up at Sungyoon when the human glances his way. “How’s the notepad coming on? Still have any burning questions you need answered?”

All of Sungyoon's flatmates wail at the same time. 

“ _Why_ would you ask him that?” Seungmin groans.

Donghyun sees the glint in Sungyoon’s eyes and sighs, settling back against his hands. “Looks like we’re going to be here a while.”

They are. The sun starts to go down before they've finished speaking, and every now and then in between the questions, Sungyoon catches Seungmin looking at him, weirdly pensive as the rest laugh and tease. One time, Seungmin's eyes are on his face, his lips down-turned into a thoughtful frown. Another, he's looking at Sungyoon's hands where they pick at the threads of his sweater, and Sungyoon sees him notice the silver rings that are back on his fingers. But he doesn't push anything, and when they get back to the dorm that night Sungyoon rushes to bed with some excuse they must see straight through, and then it's the next day, and Jaehyun's waiting outside for him. There's no class this time, but Jaehyun surprises him by running with him again, getting a little further before transitioning this time, a little less breathless when they get to the store. They're laughing, as they step back outside, Jaehyun holding a banana milk in each hand, and Sungyoon doesn't notice the boy in their path until he's walked right into him.

"Excuse me-"

A hand catches him in the chest, stopping him from moving past. "Are you Sungyoon?"

The older boy standing over them is bigger than them both, with ink-black hair falling over his forehead, an almost goofy smile not quite managing to take away the intimidatingly sharp set of his features, heavy brows over keen, round eyes. It had been snowing this morning, so the air is even more bitterly cold than usual, but he's in a button down and jeans. Sungyoon's eyes narrow.

"Do I know you?"

The boy laughs, a dark sound that reminds Sungyoon of someone else. "No, no, I don't think so," he says, a wide grin showing off straight lines of strong teeth. "I'm Seungcheol. Jangjun's brother."


	29. Confession Time

_My brother’s lycan too._

“No you’re not,” Jaehyun says immediately.

The older boy- Seungcheol- just laughs, but Sungyoon ushers them all further from the store with a frown, leaning closer to Jaehyun as he whispers, “He’s not?”

“He’s a wolf,” Jaehyun says, gesturing to the older boy as if it should be obvious, not lowering his voice, not seeming to care that the other boy’s listening. “A real wolf. There’s no wolf gene in Jangjun’s family.”

Seungcheol grins, putting a finger to his lips and shushing him quietly. “Keep it down, would you? We don’t want people hearing _that._ ”

_What?_

The questioning look Sungyoon passes to Jaehyun is met with equal confusion- it’s clear whatever’s going on here, Jaehyun has no part in it.

Though somehow, Sungyoon thinks he knows who does. He shoves his hands in his pockets. “Does the name _Joochan_ mean anything to you, by any chance?”

“He the fae? He didn't give much of an introduction.”

Sungyoon scoffs. “I knew it. Whatever this is, it has Joochan’s name written all over it.”

There’s a tug on his arm, and Jaehyun leans in closer, voice low. “What are you talking about?”

“Joochan found the alpha.”

“What alpha?” Jaehyun urges, but no sooner has he stopped speaking that the realisation flashes over his face. “Oh.”

The older boy chuckles. “It seems I’m infamous, around these parts.”

“How did you find _us_?” Sungyoon asks, fiercely enough that Jaehyun edges closer to him. One supernatural stalking him is enough. 

Seungcheol shrugs, the corners of his lips turning down into an inverted smile. “I was looking for a cold-looking human that smells like lavender and was probably being followed around by a shifter in a trench coat. It wasn’t all that difficult.”

_Lavender?_

He’d doused his pillow in it last night, and the night before, and every night since the night he’d stayed at Jibeom’s house, the sleep spray he’d bought at the start of the semester and all but forgotten about making it’s reappearance. He's not really sure it actually helps; he's almost finished the bottle. But how does Joochan know about that?

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t need to exert yourself," Sungyoon says, "because whatever it is Joochan’s planning, I don’t want to be part of it, so, you can go now.”

Seungcheol takes a few rushed steps back as Sungyoon tries to pass him, holding out his arms. “Wow, wow, wait. You don’t want my help?”

“No, no I don’t.”

Behind Sungyoon, Jaehyun sniffs, and half-raises his hand in the air, trying to get their attention. When it's on him, he shrinks. “I don’t...understand," he mumbles. "Even Jeonghan would know you and Jangjun can’t actually be related. He already knows you’re an alpha.”

“Does he?” Seungcheol challenges. 

Before either of them can think of a logical response, he’s reaching forward, and Sungyoon tries and fails to yank his hand away as the wolf grabs it. But it’s just as quickly released- there’s an angry, bubbling gash on the older boy’s palm.

“Huh,” he says, flexing his fingers, staring at the burn. “Would you look at that? You’re friends certainly crafty.”

Jaehyun’s eyes are locked on the mark too. “But silver-” the realisation seems to hit him at the same time as it does Sungyoon, because he stops, and then, more quietly, asks, “Joochan did this to you?”

Sungyoon tries to pull him to the side. “What is it, a glamour?”

“Feels pretty real to me,” Seungcheol inputs, following them. When Sungyoon stops, and glowers at him, he gives a sharp grin that lights up his face.

Sungyoon shakes his head, baffled out of his annoyance. “You look like him.”

“Your Fae friend thought so too,” Seungcheol says- from the momentary widening of his eyes, it’s clear he’s never actually met Jangjun to notice the similarity for himself. “Dashingly handsome, is he? You’re a lucky guy.”

And the annoyance comes back pretty quickly.

“Come on,” Sungyoon barks, and Jaehyun stifles a gasp as he’s dragged forward. Seungcheol follows them without hesitation, arms folded over his chest as if the brutal pace Sungyoon sets is nothing more than a casual stroll.

“Slow down, would you?” he says, though there’s no sign of struggle on his face. “Coach's been merciless this week, my legs are killing-”

Sungyoon comes to a stop so quickly Jaehyun, still being dragged, lurches ahead of him and has to turn around sharply, panic clear in his expression when he sees Sungyoon’s crossed his arms too, mimicking the alpha’s posture, probably subconsciously.

“What do you want?” he growls.

Seungcheol gives him a one-sided grin. “I want to help you out.”

“Why?”

For a moment, the mirth that seems never to leave the wolf’s expression chips- the smile is more like a grimace, as he shrugs. “Because I know what a nasty piece of work your stalker is,” he confesses, “and I, well, I guess I feel partly responsible.”

“What? How are _you_ responsible for this?”

Unexpectedly, Seungcheol claps him amiably on the arm. “Your Fae friend’s a good one,” he says suddenly, and Sungyoon narrows his eyes. “He’s looking out for you.”

He shrugs out of the older boy’s grasp. “Joochan’s ideas are usually a little too grandiose for me.”

“I feel you,” Seungcheol laughs. He has the same kind of laugh Jangjun has, that lights up his whole face, the kind of magnetic quality to it that only alphas seem to possess. “Got a Fae friend myself. He’s crazy too. But- this friend of yours, apparently he’s been trying to find me for a while now. Intuition, I guess. He didn’t seem that surprised-” Seungcheol cuts off with a grunt, gesturing to himself. What Sungyoon’s still struggling to put together, Jaehyun gasps at.

“You think Jeonghan’s acting like he is because Jangjun reminds him of you?” the shifter asks.

Another shrug. Sungyoon gets the idea that Seungcheol didn’t have a terribly large part in the planning of this idea, just decided to tag along and do as he was told, for some reason. 

“I doubt it’s making him more reasonable,” the wolf’s saying. “He might've backed off if it was another wolf, but I guess the resemblance to me must have hit a nerve. Alphas are usually quite similar. Even lycan and wolves, apparently.” His dark eyes flicker to Sungyoon. “We really look alike?”

Sungyoon really wants to deny there’s sense to the argument, but he can’t. Ruefully, he feels his gaze wander over the older boy’s features, his wide eyes, ink-black hair, even his build, not as lean as Sungyoon is himself, wider, though he’s shorter, unlike Jangjun. That’s...the biggest difference he can find. 

“You could be brothers,” he admits.

Even Seungcheol doesn’t seem to know what to make of this. _It really must just be a coincidence._ And it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Sungyoon doesn’t need a contorted reflection of Jangjun following him around right now.

But the older boy nods, anyway, and mumbles, “Good. Good, he might believe it then. It’s not as if he knows much about me anyway.”

Holding up a hand, Sungyoon warns, “If you’re going to start more fights-”

Seungcheol snickers, not even letting him finish a threat that would have been empty anyway. “He told me you’d say something like that.” When Sungyoon’s expression doesn’t soften, he holds his hands up by his head. “Relax. I’ll be good.”

_How are they so alike?_

Jaehyun must be thinking it too- he has his head tipped to the side, squinting thoughtfully. “Are you _sure_ you’re not related?”

Seungcheol laughs. “Pretty sure.”

“Not even distant cousins?” Jaehyun tries.

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

A beat of silence.

“Have you checked?”

Seungcheol swats a hand through the air, sighing melodically. “We don’t need to be related for this to work. Jeonghan will see the silver trick and think I’m lycan, and apparently the shocking resemblance will be enough to convince him fully that that boy of yours has another wolf on his side.”

“And what then?”

Seungcheol smirks. Sungyoon isn’t fast enough to avoid the hand that reaches up to ruffle his hair. “Then, little brother, you’ll see what a good connection I can be.”

********

“How was your day?” Someone asks, as soon as Sungyoon’s stepping into the kitchen, stopping only to dump his bag on a chair before he’s throwing the refrigerator open, not even looking around enough to realise Bomin’s the one asking him.

Left over pizza and soda cans. Sungyoon sighs.

Daeyeol, on the opposite side of the table, half-rises from his chair. “Are you hungry? If there’s nothing to eat, I can go get you food, you could just write me a list-”

The fridge slams shut again and Sungyoon turns, arms crossed. “It’s fine, I don’t think I’m actually hungry. Just…” of course, neither of them come to his rescue as he tries to find the right word, and it takes an age for his fried brain to finally offer, “Stressed.”

Daeyeol smiles sadly. “What’s going on?”

“Class. It’s nothing.”

 _Now_ Sungyoon notices Bomin. The younger boy has his eyes narrowed already. “There are two of you keeping secrets now?”

“Two?” _Who is he talking about?_

Daeyeol tuts at the angel, throwing him a chastising look. “Stop that. He said he was stressed.”

Sungyoon doesn’t know what’s more annoying, Bomin’s merciless lie-spotting or Daeyeol still treating him as if he was made of glass.

“What are you doing here?”

Though it turns out harsher than he’d meant it to, Bomin doesn’t seem to notice. He plucks a sheet of paper from a pile between him and Daeyeol and holds it up, so Sungyoon can see a date and time printed under a preppy photo of people around a buffet table.

“Planning committee.”

Sungyoon laughs. Bomin doesn’t seem to be jumping up and down in excitement, but it’s nice to imagine him with other people, not always cooped up at home with a book. “You guys are in a club?”

“I set it up in my first semester,” Daeyeol says, looking smug. “I thought it would be nice to have some more social events. You know, so people can socialise with other creatures like them.”

Sungyoon takes one of the flyers. It’s a barbecue, for this weekend. For wolves. 

“Took some convincing before Bomin was on board, though,” the vampires saying, and Bomin whines and bats away the hand that tries to pat his head. "Now we've had Fae picnics and vampire get-togethers, and even some of the angels take part!"

The urge to roll the paper in his hand into a crumpled ball is almost irresistible, but somehow Sungyoon manages to ignore it.

“I’ll leave you to it, then.” He surrenders the flyer into Bomin’s outstretched hand and nods goodbye, forgetting his bag as he shuffles into the hall and back into his room.

There’s a knock at the door only seconds later.

Sungyoon stifles a groan. _Don’t be Bomin, don’t be Bomin, don’t be Bomin._ He’s not in the mood for someone to call all of his bluffs right now.

But it’s not Bomin waiting outside his door, not even Donghyun. 

Seungmin smiles softly, pulling a cardigan closer around himself. “Mind if I come in?”

"Sure." Sungyoon holds the door open further, and Seungmin ducks inside, settling into his desk chair.

"I don't want to pry," he starts, and Sungyoon's stomach twists unpleasantly- "I just heard you in the kitchen, and I thought you could do with some company."

"I'm fine," Sungyoon says. Eyes flicker doubtfully over his expression. "What?"

Seungmin shakes his head, but it's clear there's something on his mind that he's not saying. "Just..." he shakes his head, and then admits, "you don't laugh as much, when he's gone."

Sungyoon doesn't know what to say to that. Even now, Seungmin and Jangjun tiptoe around each other, and it's clear Seungmin still harbours a grudge. He usually hates even talking about the lycan. But his expression is soft, and rueful now, as he sets all of it aside, and lounges in Sungyoon's room, not asking any questions, just being there.

It’s Seungmin, in the end, that he tells everything.

A flash of irritation crosses his fine features when they get to the night at Jibeom’s house. “Sungyoon, that’s so dangerous-”

“Just listen, alright?”

And he does, listens to all of Sungyoon’s excuses, every shameful thing he hasn’t had the guts to tell the others, and he nods along and doesn’t interrupt, until Sungyoon’s recounted it all, right up to the moment he and Jaehyun left Seungcheol outside the convenience store and ran home.

“This is really Joochan’s idea?” Seungmin asks, gnawing at one of his fingernails.

“It seems like it, doesn’t it?”

“Unfortunately," the smaller boy sighs. "I imagine he waited until the two of them were long gone before putting it into action too, he’s near impossible to reach when he’s away. If he’d just learn to pick up a damn _phone_ once in a while I could tell him to mind his-”

“What do you think Sungcheol's going to do?”

“He wouldn’t tell you?”

Sungyoon shakes his head, replaying the image of the wolf's secretive smirk in his mind. “He promised to be on his best behaviour, but-”

“He’s an alpha?” Seungmin finishes, rolling his eyes. 

“He didn’t seem very serious.”

Seungmin sighs, letting his eyes slip shut. “My best guess is that he’s here to strengthen the connection between himself and Jangjun more firmly in Jeonghan’s mind. If he thinks they’re family, he’ll know Seung-Seungcheol?-” Sungyoon nods. “Seungcheol will be protective of the two of you. I don’t know what they fought about before, but now Jeonghan should be more cautious, knowing a nastier fight could be on the way. He’ll be a...like a really annoying bodyguard until Jangjun comes back, I think.”

The bed creaks as Sungyoon throws himself down onto his back. “That’s it? Just another person following me around?”

_At this point, am I even sure this is better than the fighting would be?_

“We’ll see whether this one works any better," Seungmin says, not sounding at all convinced. It’s comforting, at least, that there’s another person doubtful of the outcome. None of the others share Sungyoon’s pessimism, as if they can’t quite grasp how serious this is, even if they want to, even when he knows how much they care. It’s just different, to them.

“I guess if there’s no dissuading him, we’re just going to have to wait and see if he’s really going to help.”

Sungyoon scoffs and starts to protest, but his empty stomach whines, and Seungmin cuts him off with a laugh, standing.

“No more worrying tonight,” he says, brushing imaginary lint from his clothes in a way that reminds Sungyoon of Joochan. He wonders how long they’ve known each other. “You should eat. Is there enough food in the fridge? If not, I can-”

“ _Min,_ ” Sungyoon warns.“What did I say?”

Seungmin winces, scratching the back of his neck bashfully. “Right. Sorry. It’s going to be a hard habit to break.” He straightens, and clears his throat authoritatively. “But not babying and letting you starve are two different things. Come on.”

Sungyoon rolls his eyes, but relents, and lets himself be pulled off of his bed and into the kitchen again.


	30. Little Brother

There are two boys waiting outside his door now.

Jaehyun shuffles uncomfortably on his feet, risking only the shortest glance up at Sungyoon walking towards them. Seungcheol acts like he doesn’t notice the tension- he smiles a crooked, one sided grin when Sungyoon glares at him.

 _He’s even dressed the part now,_ Sungyoon thinks. Seungcheol has his hands shoved in the pockets of his dark jeans, a long necklace glowing silver against the black of his tshirt- Sungyoon would bet good money that it’s iron. And there’s a long jacket, like Jangjun’s, though this one is striped with crimson.

“Didn’t I tell you to get lost?” Sungyoon asks, already walking past them both.

“Yeah,” Seungcheol laughs, striding by his side. “But it’s not as if you can stop me walking with you.”

“Aren’t you here because you want to _stop_ crazy supernaturals harassing me?”

Seungcheol snort. “I’m supposed to be lycan. Do they even count as supernaturals?”

Sungyoon rolls his eyes, but doesn’t grace this with a response. He’s used to maintaining his silence when his words won’t get him anywhere. It’s second nature now. Irritatingly, Seungcheol doesn’t seem to mind the quiet too much. He whistles all the way to the sport’s building.

“You know, if you wanted someone in class with you, I could always tell the professor I wanted to sit in on a lecture. I doubt they’d turn down a prospective student, especially one that’s so convincing.”

Jaehyun trotts to catch up to the two of them. “Or I could-”

“I’ll pass. On both.” He feels bad instantly, as Jaehyun nods and draws back again, but he needs to be alone, now. He doesn’t know why he’s suddenly so stubborn- really, he didn’t mind Jaehyun being with him last time- but he is. He’s going alone, or he’s not going at all.

Seungcheol doesn’t seem to mind. “No biggie. I’m sure it’ll be annoying enough to see me walking with you.”

There’s no sight of Jeonghan outside, which means that whatever’s going to happen will have to happen after class, not before it or during. It’s something. He can deal with this later, when he has the energy. He doesn’t even say goodbye before he’s storming into the building and then into his classroom without stopping. It’s when he sits down that he remembers why he’s in such a mood. It’s not because Seungcheol is too stubborn to leave him alone, or even the prospect of another hour-and-a-half trapped beside a possessive Fae who won’t leave him alone either. It’s because the full moon’s over. And they’re still not back yet.

Seeing Seungcheol had almost made him forget about it, in his anger, but now he’s alone again, it comes back to him.

Are they staying away for longer this time because it’s worse, or does Jangjun just not want to see him? What if they’re already back, and they’re just not telling him?

If only his stalker was something other than Fae. Jeonghan seems to possess the same near mind-reading ability that Joochan does. He won’t stop talking about it.

“Not back yet?” he says, as he sits. No one else will sit beside Sungyoon anymore, so the seats are always free, Jeonghan always beside him. “I do hope there aren’t any problems?”

Sungyoon sets his gaze on the whiteboard in front of them and tries to sound more confident than he feels. “No problems.”

“You sure?” Jeonghan tilts his head, lilac hair falling over one side of his face. “It’s tricky business, transitioning. I’d hate for one of the bones to not set right, or, who knows, maybe he got himself caught in a bear trap.”

Sungyoon grinds his teeth and tries not to think about it. The laughter colouring Jeonghan’s voice is enough to make him nauseous. He doesn’t want to think about what Jangjun must have been going through.

“You keep in touch?”

How does he always know just what to say to hurt?

“Of course,” Sungyoon lies. He doesn’t trust himself to look away from the scrawled notes on the whiteboard.

Jeonghan hums thoughtfully, in a way that might be disbelief. “I bet you still resent it, though,” he sighs. To an outsider, he must sound so sympathetic. “Pretty selfish to just expect you to wait for him when he leaves you every month, don’t you think? I’d get tired of it.”

“I like people who give me space,” Sungyoon says quietly.

Jeonghan doesn’t even laugh at the attempt this time, just clicks his tongue. “But that won’t do. What if something were to happen to you when he was away? D’you think he’d be able to forgive himself?”

There are times like this when Sungyoon really starts to feel helpless. Times when Jeonghan’s smiles and jokes get a little too sharp, a little too mean, and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, alarm bells ringing in the back of his mind. Jeonghan isn’t just a bully. He scares Sungyoon more than he wants to admit, sometimes.

He grinds his teeth together, but his eyes have jumped to the Fae’s face, and Jeonghan’s already smiling victoriously, for getting his attention. 

“It’s not his job to protect me,” Sungyoon says.

Jeonghan laughs, his sharp grin clearly amused. “No, of course not.” 

_Don’t let him see you’re angry._ Sungyoon turns back to the lecturer, though the blood’s racing too thunderously in his ears for him to hear anything they’re saying. _He thinks you can’t stand up for yourself, and he’s right._ Under the table, he balls his hands into fists so tight that he leaves crescents in his palms with his fingernails. 

Jeonghan lounges back in his chair, bored and irritable now Sungyoon’s attention is elsewhere, and throws an arm over the back of Sungyoon’s chair. 

“Move.”

“Relax,” the Fae laughs. “I’m not even touching you.”

Sungyoon scoffs and drags his chair in further, but Jeonghan’s not as patient today, not even subtle, and he removes his arm from the chair only to sling it around Sungyoon’s neck instead, and pull. Sungyoon gasps as pain shoots up his neck, protesting the movement of trying to wrestle out of the grip. He shoves Jeonghan’s chest as hard as he can, but the angle’s awkward, and the effort is even less effective than usual. 

_“Move!”_

His voice echoes, and the classroom falls silent. The grip around his neck loosens enough for him to tear free- their lecturer looks up at him from the front of the room, scowling.

“Is there a problem?”

“None at all,” Jeonghan says- there it is, that strange disjointed quality that Sungyoon’s come to expect, the one he hears every time he’s tried this before, to raise his voice and cause a fuss, just in case someone might step forward and help him out. A glamour. Not quite as effective as Chan’s, but enough to turn eyes away from them again. The lecturer stops glowering almost immediately, and then turns back to the board, as if nothing had happened.

Sungyoon grabs his bag and bolts for the door, narrowly evading the hand that reaches for him.

Seungcheol looks up lazily from a bench outside, red sunglasses perched low on his nose.

“Wha-hey, stop!” He leaps to his feet as Sungyoon is level with the bench and stops him with a hand on either shoulder, frowning. “What happened to your neck?”

Sungyoon clamps a hand just above his collarbone, where his skin feels like it's on fire. “You can’t guess?”

He doesn’t have to- Seungcheol’s eyes flicker up to something over Sungyoon’s shoulder, and his expression hardens. His hands drop from Sungyoon’s shoulders, but Sungyoon moves with him, sidestepping so the older boy can’t walk around him.

“If you start a fight right now, I think I’ll start screaming.”

A rush of shock passes over the wolf’s face, like Sungyoon had slapped him, and he stops. “I wasn’t going to-”

Sungyoon drops onto the bench as if someone had dropped a weight onto his shoulders. “Please just don’t.”

There’s a moment where the wolf hesitates, still looking over toward the school- Sungyoon later wonders what he must have been seeing, how surprised Jeonghan must have been- but then he sighs, and crouches by the bench, offering Sungyoon a small smile as he looks up at him.

“How about food, then? My treat.”

Sungyoon shakes his head and instantly regrets it as another spasm of pain runs up his neck. “I don’t need more people interfering right now-”

“Just until your boy gets back,” Seungcheol says. “I’ll behave.”

This time, Sungyoon believes him. Seungcheol’s round eyes are looking right back at him, imploring, and the smile is more uncertain than all of the others Sungyoon had saw him sporting. _Your boy._ Though it’s clear Joochan has told him about Jangjun, and he must know they’re only faking, he makes it sound so real.

“I told you seeing you with me would be enough, didn’t I?” Seungcheol tries, his voice quiet. At least for today, it seems he’s right. When Sungyoon manages to drag his eyes toward the school, Jeonghan’s gone, though he’s certain the Fae followed him out of their class.

When he sighs, Seungcheol seems to think he’s coming around. He stands, and holds out a hand, shaking it comically in the air when Sungyoon hesitates. “Come on, little bro. You're pale, I think you should eat.”

Another moment of hesitation brings out one of his more uncertain smiles. His hand starts to drop. Sungyoon takes a deep breath, and pushes himself to his feet.

“So long as you’re buying.”

Seongcheol laughs, and falls into step beside him.

He didn’t think Seungmin was the hugging type, but hours later when Seungcheol drops him off at his dormitory, Sungyoon steps inside and immediately finds the elf blinking back at him from the other end of the corridor, and he throws his arms around him and won’t let go. Donghyun rushes into Seungmin’s room just as Sungyoon starts contemplating dinner, the stress and fatigue catching up to him in the form of a ravenous appetite, and seems surprised to see them like this too. They’re both spread out on Seungmin’s bed, Sungyoon’s arm under Seungmin’s head like a pillow and one of Seungmin’s legs thrown over his, and Donghyun laughs at the sight of them as he steps inside.

“D’you guys hear?” he asks, and the sound of the excitement in his voice makes both of them raise their heads from the bed curiously. “Jangjun’s back the day after tomorrow!”

After Seungmin’s reaction, Sungyoon had realised there was a pretty nasty bruise darkening near his collarbone and pulled on a turtleneck to hide it- he tries to sit up so fast now that it somehow gets caught under Seungmin, and he’s yanked backward. Both of them laugh at him, though it sounds forced, from Seungmin. The elf rushes to say something to cover the sudden heavy silence.

“I hadn’t heard-”

“He texted me like an hour ago,” Donghyun says breathlessly, words coming fast. “My lecturer glared at me for the rest of the class, I ran all the way here to tell everybody. About that-” he turns and disappears, and there’s the sound of a door creaking open, followed by excited voices.

The boys on the bed wrestle into sitting positions. Sungyoon risks a cautious glance at Seungmin. He shouldn’t have- there’s a storm in his expression. It isn’t just Sungyoon who has mixed feelings about Donghyun being so excited, it seems.

Donghyun comes back with the same seam-splitting smile, completely oblivious, dropping onto the end of Sungyoon’s bed with a happy sigh. Both of them have to scramble to pull their legs up to their chests before he crushes them.

“I can’t wait for things to go back to normal,” the wolf sighs.

“Will they?” 

Sungyoon hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but Donghyun just rolls his eyes.

“Whatever it is you think you’ve done,” he says, “I can _guarantee_ Jangjun’s already forgotten about it.”

They hadn’t told him. Guilt rushes through Sungyoon, momentarily making him speechless, and Donghyun glances at him. He forces a laugh that sounds just as fake as Seungmin’s had. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

The wolf pouts at him childishly, poking him in the ribs. “You’re killing my buzz.” Sighing, Seungmin shakes his head at him, and there’s a moment of silence where Sungyoon feels the waves of irritation coming from the boy next to him, before Donghyun rests his head back against the wall and asks, “What should we do when he gets back? We could go out for food.”

Even when he’s irritated, Seungmin still tries to step in, when he sees Sungyoon struggling. “Hyun-”

“I don’t think he’s going to be so excited to see me,” Sungyoon manages.

Donghyun laughs. “Are you insane? He’s probably not stopped talking about you since they left-”

“Maybe we should just do something here, instead,” Seungmin offers. 

“Great idea,” Donghyun nods. There are two very relieved sighs that he takes as enthusiasm, and he nods again, smile growing, getting back into his rhythm. “Keep it simple. He might not even be eating again yet.”

Seungmin splutters. “Uh, no, Donghyun, I just meant the four of us.”

“Four?”

“Yes. Daeyeol and us. Just us four.”

Donghyun frowns. “No Jangjun?”

There’s a jolting edge to Seungmin’s shrug. “He’ll need to rest anyway.”

It’s a reasonable argument, but Sungyoon knows too much to believe it’s really what Seungmin wants to say, and the weird unnatural movements he’s making, and the shaky grin, have started unease curling in Sungyoon’s stomach. He should say something, before this goes where he expects it to.

Donghyun clearly doesn’t understand why they’re having this argument. “But he’s been away-”

Any remaining softness in Seungmin's voice sharpens bitterly. “Do you need to invite him to everything?”

Sungyoon winces. “Min,” he tries, but neither of them seem to hear him. 

Donghyun’s shaking his head, not frowning anymore, almost blank faced with incredulity. 

“I thought you’d gotten over this,” he says, almost to himself, but Seungmin hears.

“Over what?”

“This weird- weird _feud_ you have with him,” Donghyun splutters, waving his hands in the air as the words escape him. _He really doesn’t know, does he?_ “Jangjun’s tried so many times to be nice to you and you never let him.”

Seungmin rolls his eyes. “I know, Hyun, not all of us can be as _perfect_ as Jangjun.”

Donghyun’s mouth snaps shut.

“Min, hang on a second,” Sungyoon tries again, just as unsuccessfully as the last.

Donghyun’s confusion has started turning into something closer to hurt, a frown that he can’t quite manage to hide. “I just wanted the two of you to get along.”

The mean laugh Seungmin lets out must hurt- Sungyoon drags his eyes away from Donghyun as he sees the frown deepen, though Seungmin just keeps going. “Just because you like him, Donghyun, doesn’t mean I have to put up with him every-”

“I don’t like him, you idiot, I like you!”

Seungmin scoffs, oblivious to the way the rest of the room is ringing with sudden, tense silence. “ _Idiot_? We’re resorting-to-wait, what did you say?”

Sungyoon’s distantly aware of his mouth hanging open. Donghyun’s eyes flicker around the room as if planning an escape route, and he shakes his head, trying to fake calm even though his face is bright pink. He opens his mouth several times and nothing comes out, stubbornly not looking at either of them, before lamely mumbling, “Nothing.”

The snicker Sungyoon had been desperately trying to hold in bubbles up before he can stop it. “Oh my god.”

Donghyun’s hands fly into the air. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he urges, though Seungmin still gapes at him, and Sungyoon laughs again.

“Sure, Hyun. Sure,” he says, pushing himself up off of the bed and stepping towards the door. Both of them stare at him, like they’re silently trying to communicate and ask for help, but his hand’s already on the door handle, and he smiles. “I’ll just be making my exit now. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

Daeyeol looks up from the kitchen table as he steps inside, bemusedly smiling at the sly grin lighting up Sungyoon's face. "What's going on?"

Sungyoon winks at him and throws open the fridge. "You'll find out later."


	31. Trick or Treat

He’d half expected Seungcheol to be gone the next day, but the older boy seems intent on keeping his promise of sticking around.

“He’s back tomorrow,” Sungyoon tells him, as they walk through frosted streets. He’d convinced Jaehyun he didn’t need to accompany them, and because the shifter is one of the few who still listens to him, it’s just Sungyoon and the wolf now. He’s far more at ease today, if a little embarrassed. It’s been a while since he’s acted like that in front of anyone. But Seungcheol doesn’t mention it, doesn’t even ask if he’s feeling better. It’s nice.

“It’s about time,” Seungcheol’s saying, smiling at a group of girls that shuffle passed them, hands in his pockets. “Full moon’s been over for a few days now. You’ll be missing him.”

Sungyoon glances at him, surprised, before releasing his reaction might give too much of himself away.

Seungcheol laughs. “Was it supposed to be a secret?”

“You haven’t even seen us together,” Sungyoon says, baffled.

“No, but I’ve seen your face whenever I mention him.” Sungyoon rolls his eyes and storms ahead, and Seungcheol chuckles and jogs to catch up again. “Oh, don’t look like that. I’m sure he’s the same.”

The morning is cold enough that Sungyoon’s sigh fogs in the air around him. “I don’t know about that.”

Seungcheol raises a brow, unconvinced. “Really?” he prompts, leaning forward slightly to get Sungyoon’s attention. “Nothing’s happened there?”

“You realise I barely know you, right?”

Seungcheol shrugs. “All the better, then. No judging.”

It makes a weird kind of sense. And after his almost-breakdown yesterday, what’s the harm in one more confession? 

“You really want to know?”

“Yes,” Seungcheol laughs. “There’s nothing I’d rather know more. Tell me.”

What he really wants to do is laugh back, but Seungcheol’s smirk reminds him so much of someone else that he feels a strange urge to suppress the sound, to not be so easy.

“Tell me something first,” he says instead, and Seungcheol gasps and tries to poke him in the side.

“You drive a hard bargain, huh?”

Sungyoon tries and fails at keeping the smug grin from his face. “You’re not getting something for nothing.”

There’s a moment of contemplation, as Seungcheol considers the deal, but only a moment. “What the hell,” the older boy laughs, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s see. What’ve I got for you? Hm- Oh! Ok. I could tell you how I met Josh.”

“Is that  _ your boy _ ?” Sungyoon asks, voice dropping into a poor imitation of Seungcheol’s as he says the phrase, and the wolf grins full-watt, instantly brighter, and somehow softer too.

And then he says, “I hit him in the face with a volleyball.”

“You  _ what _ ?”

“He’s pretty and I was nervous!” Seungcheol shrieks, “I’ve improved my game since then!”

The air’s so cold it stings the back of his throat, but Sungyoon can’t stop laughing anyway, holding his sides, as Seungcheol laughs along with him, quieter, looking pleased with himself, and not nearly as embarrassed as he should be. 

“I should hope so, Jesus, was he ok?” 

Seungcheol nods. “Just a broken nose.” He throws his head back as Sungyoon’s mouth drops open. “I’m messing with you, wow, it wasn’t  _ that _ bad.”

“Quite the meet-cute.”

“Isn’t it?” He nudges one of Sungyoon’s arms with his own, without taking his hands from his pockets. “Now spill.”

Sungyoon’s laughter fades into silence. He kicks at a frozen pile of leaves on the sidewalk and sends them hurling, hearing the icy crunch of them under his boots. “You’re right,” he sighs, when they’ve all fluttered to the ground again. “Something happened.”

There’s a very dramatic gasp beside him as Seungcheol spins toward him. “I  _ knew  _ it.”

Sungyoon isn’t sure whether to smile or frown. “Just a kiss.”

“When is a kiss ever  _ just _ a kiss?” Seungcheol says, smiling wryly, and Sungyoon’s stomach flutters as if he was there all over again, squinting in the bright lights of Jibeom’s kitchen, cold tile under his feet.

“I mean...I don’t think I’m getting another any time soon.”

Seungcheol’s brows draw together, sobering slightly. “What’d you do?”

Though he tries to answer, all that comes out at first is a few spluttered sounds and a heavy sigh, and Sungyoon looks away. “This is so embarrassing.”

“I have a lot of embarrassing stories,” Seungcheol says immediately and, immediately, Sungyoon believes him. “We could trade.”

Sungyoon can’t help but laugh, though the nerves are quickly turning into deeper apprehension. “Why do you want to know so much?”

“Because you really don’t want to tell me, obviously. Come on, spill. I have no one to tell anyway.”

“I..god, there’s really no way to phrase this any better: I tried to get him to bite me.”

Stunning Seungcheol silent might have been entertaining in any other circumstance- now, as the wolf stares at him and doesn’t speak for a long time, it just makes him feel worse.

“You’re not going to say anything?”

Seungcheol lets out a long exhale, cheeks puffing out, and shakes his head. “Wow,” he says, the only thing he can seem to manage, at first. “You’re right, that’s worse than I thought it’d be.”

“You’re not making me feel any better.”

“I wasn’t really trying to,” Seungcheol shrugs, brows still furrowed. “That’s rough.”

Sungyoon stops and tears at his hair, hands covering his face, and hears Seungcheol’s sneakers scuff on asphalt as he stops, too. “Why did I even bother telling you?” 

_ I wasn’t counting on any tough love so early in the morning from someone who hardly knows me. _

Seungcheol sighs. “Alright,” he says, voice still level, not cooing, and Sungyoon reminds himself that he wanted this, wanted to be treated normally, not babied, and forces his hands away from his face. 

“It was a pretty dumb thing to do,” Seungcheol’s saying, “and hell, you must have caught him off guard. But it’s not unforgiveable.”

Dubiously, Sungyoon raises a brow at him. “You’re not just saying that to be nice?” he asks, even though, evidently, Seungcheol doesn’t appear to be the type for white lies.

“Nah,” the wolf sighs. “We all do dumb stuff once in a while, right? Just don’t pull that again.”

They start walking again, Sungyoon shaking his head quickly. “Wasn’t planning on it. He freaked out on me.” The pain in his neck had dulled overnight, now only a barely-there ache whenever he moves too quickly. If he’s careful, he won’t even remember the bruise is there. If he keeps up with the scarfs and the turtlenecks, no one else will notice, either.

“I can imagine,” Seungcheol nods. Sungyoon’s stomach twists unhappily as they fall into silence again, until they’re so close to the sports buildings that he thinks Seungcheol isn’t going to speak to him again, but then the older boy is clearing his throat, and the awkward look on his face makes it clear what he’d really been thinking in the silence, before he says, “So...you really want that? A bite?”

“There are already enough people telling me not to, you don’t have to join in.”

Unexpectedly, Seungcheol throws his head back and sighs with relief “Thank god,” he says, “lectures  _ really _ don't suit me.”

Sungyoon snorts. “You got that right, at least.”

And then they round a corner, and both see the boy waiting by the doors for them. Sungyoon isn’t surprised, that Jeonghan had decided to remain outside for them the day after seeing Seungcheol around him, but expecting it doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

“How are we playing this?” Seungcheol asks, under his breath, and Sungyoon is already stopping and turning, putting a hand on his arm in a way that must make them seem far closer than they are.

“You can go,” he says. 

“Are you-”

“You said seeing you would be enough, didn’t you?”

“Let’s hope I was right,” Seungcheol mutters, with another look toward the school. He doesn’t look happy about it, but he can’t cause an argument in front of someone who’s supposed to think they’re close, so when Sungyoon starts towards the building, he remains behind. From the way Jeonghan keeps staring at some point over Sungyoon’s shoulder as he approaches, he isn’t above glaring at the Fae from his waiting point, though.

When Sungyoon’s a foot or so in front of him, Jeonghan’s eyes finally flash to his. A sharp smile twists his features. “Got yourself a new alpha?”

Sungyoon frowns as if the idea is disgusting- not a difficult task, when his mind is now conjuring images of Seongcheol in Jangjun’s place.

“He’s Jangjun’s brother,” he says, and doesn’t stick around to see the reaction. Jeonghan doesn’t  _ immediately _ follow at his heels as he pushes through the doors, so there must be one. Sungyoon presses his hands between his knees to stop the tremor there that could give the lie away, but Jeonghan doesn’t even question the relation. There really must be a link between the two alphas, in his mind. And so there’s a change in conversation: instead of spending the entire session bothering Sungyoon, or insulting Jangjun, he won’t stop talking about Seungcheol.

“I’m just saying this to look out for you,” he says once, when Sungyoon has been trying to ignore him and focus on the diagram being drawn at the front of the class, “you should really consider who you spend time with. Makes sense that two mutts like them are family.”

“Yeah, well, Seungcheol isn’t exactly singing your praise either.”

_ Shit. Why did I say that? _

It gets an ugly scowl, something dark and mean flashing in Jeonghan’s eyes.  _ At least he isn’t laughing anymore _ .

But Jeonghan changes tactic, and it’s always so much worse when he pretends to be nice, when he’s all sweet smiles, because it always comes with closeness, well-meaning hands on his arm, leaning closer to talk softly, and none of it is convincing anymore, after all of the scowls and insults and bruises.

“I don’t want you around people like that,” he says, voice low, the sound of it crawling over Sungyoon’s skin, raising the hairs at the back of his neck.

“People like what?” Sungyoon says, hearing the irritation in his voice, but Jeonghan’s leaning into the kind concerned act too much that he still doesn’t laugh. “It’s  _ you  _ I should be staying away from.”

The lesson is grinding to a close, and around them people pack notebooks into bags, shuffling in anticipation, quiet murmurs picking up. Jeonghan plants his elbow on Sungyoon’s side of the desk and rests his chin on his palm, frowning.

“About yesterday,” he mumbles, and Sungyoon’s stomach plummets to the floor, “I should apologize, for being too protective.”

Sungyoon bites his tongue to keep from snapping. He’s been around Joochan for long enough now to pick up on the trick in Jeonghan’s words, the  _ should _ apologies instead of the  _ want to,  _ and the word ‘protective’ is really starting to haunt him, made even worse in a situation like this, where it clearly doesn’t fit.

Instead of gracing Jeonghan with a response, Sungyoon tugs on his notebook, and Jeonghan’s arm slips from his desk with the force of the pull. The Fae hardly seems to notice, though, because even in the same motion as slipping he’s turning, taking something from his bag. “I got something for you.”

When Sungyoon looks up, just about to stand, there’s something on his desk.

It’s a box, see-through plastic tied with a ribbon, and some kind of cake is visible inside, shiny like a macaroon but square, a soft pink colour with a vibrant scarlet swirl of icing in the middle.

Sungyoon only glances at it, and then gets to his feet. As expected, there’s a hand on his wrist- not his arm, his wrist, as if Jeonghan’s just waiting to grab him again.

“Sit,” the Fae says. “Eat lunch with me.”

Students start filing past them.

“I have plans.”

Jeonghan’s smile wavers as if he’s trying to fight off a grimace. “With the alpha?”

“Without you,” Sungyoon says.

“Then just take it with you.” He scoops the box up and presses it into Sungyoon’s hand, insistent, that angelic smile still turning his lips. “It’s rude to deny a gift.”

_ And probably dangerous, if it comes from a Fae. _ If only Joochan were here to explain this to him, Sungyoon might know how best to react, but they won’t be back until tomorrow, so he’s left to his own judgement. He bags the box with a smile- not trying very hard to make it look sincere- and turns without speaking, half-surprised when Jeonghan lets him. If he’s suddenly willing to let him go after he accepts the box, the gift must be more than some strange Fae food. He throws it in the first trash can he sees.

Seungcheol hops up from a bench just outside the doors. “What was that?”

“Trash,” Sungyoon says, with a shrug. “Want to stay for lunch?”

The alpha gives him a wide, satisfied grin. “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried,” he says.


	32. Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (apologies for the break! assignments caught up to me, but the next chapter should be out in the next few days 🙏)

  
  


They’ve been picking at leftovers for a while, stomachs full, when Sungyoon spots Donghyun skipping up to them, fighting with a book bag that keeps slipping off of his arm. Seungcheol senses Sungyoon’s distraction, and looks over his shoulder, eyebrows rising at the sight of the younger wolf trotting toward them.

“Friend of yours?”

Sungyoon nods, laughing as Donghyun’s bag slips off of his shoulder for the hundredth time, hitting frozen asphalt. “One of my flatmates.”

Donghyun lets out a grumble of rage and snatches the bag up, dragging it over to their usual bench and throwing it down onto a spot opposite Sungyoon. Then he realises the figure he’d almost hit with his bag is looking up at him, with a sharp grin.

“Uh, wow,” he says, stepping around the bench to Sungyoon’s side instead. “This is the Jangjun look alike?”

“His name’s Seungcheol,” Seungcheol says mildly.

Donghyun gives him a wary look. “Seungmin was just telling me about you.”

“Speaking of,” Sungyoon inputs- both of the wolves look toward him, sensing danger, and see the truly haunting grin on his face- “when’s the date?”

Immediately, Donghyun’s the colour of a tomato, and trying very hard to look confused as he frowns and shakes his head, with far too much enthusiasm to look nonchalant. “What? No- no there’s no. There’s no date.”

The wolf’s usual plain, casual wear has been replaced by a brown-and-red plaid jacket with a striped, woollen sweater underneath, the collar of a grey shirt poking out at the top. It’s more layers than Sungyoon has seen any of them wear, with enough autumnal colours to look like something from Jibeom’s garden. “You’re dressed like Seungmin,” he says.

Donghyun’s mouth drops open. “These are my clothes!” 

Sungyoon raises a sceptical brow. “I’ve _never_ saw you wear that jacket before.”

With a haughty sniff, Donghyun shrugs and says, “Maybe I was cold.”

It takes all of Sungyoon’s willpower not to burst out laughing. He didn’t expect Donghyun to be such a bad liar. “Really? That’s the best you can do? You were _cold_?”

The wolf groans and deflates into a puddle on top of the table. “Does it look ridiculous?” he asks, or at least, Sungyoon thinks that's what he asks. He can't make out much amongst the mumbling Donghyun’s doing with his forehead resting on the table.

“No, it’s nice.”

“Yeah man, you look good,” Seungcheol says. Donghyun lifts his head back up and narrows his eyes at him.

“It’s just weird to see you out of sweatshirts and jeans,” Sungyoon laughs.

The subtle tease gets his attention- Donghyun rolls his eyes. “Like you can talk, gym rat. You’ve been in sweats all week, and I can _guarantee_ tomorrow it’s all button ups and pretty jewellery.” 

Sungyoon ignores the dig. “Where’re you taking him?”

Donghyun sticks out his tongue. “None of your business.” Sungyoon shakes his head, laughing a little, and Donghyun sits up straighter and raises a finger in the air- “And hey- since when does Seungmin get to fill me in on what’s going on with you? How does he know things I don’t?”

Sungyoon hadn’t even thought about it, hadn’t expected it to cause any problems, and he lets out a breathy, incredulous laugh at Donghyun’s pouting. “I just saw him first, I thought it’d save some time if I just got him to tell you about-” he gestures in Seungcheol’s general direction “-all this.”

Donghyun clutches his chest as if he’d just been grievously wounded. “I thought _I_ was your favourite.”

“Stop looking like a kicked puppy,” Sungyoon laughs, and Donghyun sticks his tongue out at him again. “I don’t have a favourite.”

“Everybody has a favourite! You think Jangjun’d let the rest of us away with half the stuff Youngtaek does?”

There’s a shuffling sound and the bench creaks, distracting the two of them as they both realise Seungcheol is still on the opposite side of the table, listening to their conversation. The older boy smiles, and rests his elbows on the table as if physically establishing himself as part of the group again. "So this Jangjun guy gets back tomorrow?"

Donghyun doesn’t seem happy to be reminded of his presence- he still looks wary, and unwelcoming, as he eyes Seungcheol. But the older boy had been nothing but nice to Sungyoon, and though he’d tried not to, he can’t deny that now after speaking with him, and realising the alpha Jeonghan hates so much isn’t just another supernatural with anger management problems, he kind of _does_ like him. 

So he slaps Donghyun lightly on the shoulder. “Answer him, you ass.”

The beta sighs, but doesn’t argue. “About that,” he starts, and already Sungyoon can tell there’s something he doesn’t want to say, and an uneasy feeling twists in his gut. “The pet shop technically don't know about...his deal, so, he doesn't really have time to hang out if he wants to keep working there.”

The pet shop. Sungyoon had practically forgotten about it. 

“So, what? We might not see him for a few days?” He tries not to sound too relieved, but he can feel Seungcheol watching him, frowning.

Donghyun shrugs. “I guess we could stop by the shop if you wanted to, just not for long.” Sungyoon nods as if he’s hardly listening anymore, but Donghyun’s watching him not too, and must see something in his expression, because he breathes a laugh and throws an arm around his shoulder. “I’ll come too, if you want.”

“Maybe we should just give him some space.”

Donghyun rolls his eyes. “He’s had his space, he’s been gone for ages!”

“ _And more importantly,”_ Sungyoon cuts in, “you should be spending more time with Seungmin. If you piss him off again, it’ll be _me_ who’ll have to listen to him ranting about how horribly inconsiderate his boyfriend's being.”

Sungyoon had thought it might just be a one-off, when Donghyun had flushed pink at the mere mention of Seungmin, but it seems like it’s something he’s going to have to get more used to- all of his cool bravado disappears at once, when the other boy’s brought up. 

_Cute._ He reaches out to ruffle his hair, and Donghyun swats his hand away. 

“Get off.”

Seungcheol laughs under his breath, and then winces when Donghyun glares at him. “Is this Seungmin guy a wolf too?”

The attempt at polite conversation is shot down very quickly.

“Don’t you have something better to do than follow a human around a school you don’t even attend?” Donghyun asks.

 _Ouch_. Seungcheol’s been around the others so much, he must have forgotten how temperamental other wolfs can be, even the betas. He’s almost sad he won’t be around long to meet the lycan- he’s heard they’re a hundred times worse. That’d be fun.

“I’ll be gone by tomorrow,” he reassures the younger boy.

Sungyoon frowns, turning to him. “You will?”

“Unless you want me to stick around longer,” Seungcheol shrugs. “But I was covering for Jangjun, so when he’s back, I should be leaving. That was the plan.”

It makes sense. Really, he can’t expect Seungcheol to stick around any longer than he has already, just to keep him company, when he was only supposed to be here a few days. He’ll have classes too, that he’s been missing, friends he’ll want to get back to.

“So he gets back tomorrow,” Seungcheol says, as they walk back to Sungyoon’s dorm. They’d spent more time teasing Donghyun than they’d thought, and the winter sun’s beginning to set, the sky a deep blue above them. 

“He’ll need to rest,” Sungyoon says immediately.

Seungcheol nods, agreeing, but then a beat of silence settles, and he breaks it by saying, “You can’t avoid him forever, you know.”

Sungyoon sighs and scuffs his feet, scattering frozen asphalt. “I was just- I was going to wait until he decided he wanted to see me again.”

“And if that doesn’t happen?” Seungcheol prompts.

Sungyoon stares at him, wide-eyed. “You think it won’t?”

The older boy raises his hands innocently in surrender. “I didn’t say that, I just mean...well, wouldn’t it be better for you to go to him? If you think he’s still going to be mad.”

Sehyoon gulps, mouth suddenly dry. “I wouldn’t know what to say.”

Seungcheol snorts. “Something like _the older, hotter version of you told me to just get my head out of my ass and-”_ he yelps, clutching his side where Sungyoon had planted a well-placed punch to his kidney, groaning as Sungyoon laughs and skitters away. “Alright,” he moans, breathless, and Sungyoon panics, but then sees the wolf is already straightening, no sign of pain in his expression. “Alright. Really, though. Avoiding people doesn’t make the problem go away.”

Sungyoon’s still uncertain the next day, stomach aflutter the moment he wakes and realises they should return tonight, and he drags himself out of bed only because Donghyun and Seungmin both make a point of banging on his door and reminding him not to be late for class. He gets the sense that if he doesn’t leave the dorm of his own free will, they’ll drag him out kicking and screaming anyway.

Seungcheol’s waiting to walk him to classs, one last time and- maybe because of the overwhelming nerves- seeing him with his hands in his pockets, watching a bird hop about on the asphalt as he waits, makes Sungyoon feel strangely disappointed. 

“Are you really leaving today?” he can’t help but ask. They’d been walking silently for a few minutes, and he wonders whether Seungcheol knows the reason for his mixed feelings, that it isn’t just the nervousness of Jangjun’s return that’s making him pensive and moody.

The older boy sighs through a smile. “Don’t want rid of me anymore?” he asks, grinning cheekily, and when Sungyoon smiles, too embarrassed to answer, he jostles him with his elbow until the small smile turns into a laugh.

“You’re not so bad,” Sungyoon admits, and the wolf rolls his eyes.

“Don’t get all depressed on me,” he says, his expression pinched in feigned disgust. “It’s not like I can’t come visit.”

Though he wouldn’t admit it, a weight lifts off of Sungyoon’s shoulders. He’d been worried that the connection he feels to the older boy now might be one-sided, but it doesn’t seem like that. “Bring Josh next time,” he says.

“I will,” Seungcheol nods, and the mention of the other boy has brought out a dazzling, wide grin that erases some of Sungyoon’s nerves, for a moment. Just like Donghyun now, whenever Seungmin is mentioned. Will Sungyoon ever react like that just to a name? Will someone smile and blush whenever he's brought up, just at the thought of him?

“I think he’d like you," Seungcheol's saying. "Although, he is kind of quiet.”

Sungyoon groans. “That’d be a nice change,” he sighs, and Seungcheol laughs at his dreamy expression.

When they get to the sports department, Seungcheol shoves him toward the door, reminding him he’ll still be waiting for him after class, that there’s no need to say their goodbyes yet. Sungyoon rolls his eyes, faking disinterest to hide another wash of relief, and barrels through the corridor. The nerves almost make facing the prospect of an hour or two with Jeonghan easier. The harder stuff comes _after_ class, this time, and the nerves completely unconnected to the usual reason he hates showing up to class. But when he gets to his desk, he realises there’s no one in the seat next to his.

There’s another cake waiting for him on the tabletop, wound up in pink ribbon. He shakes his head, hiding it quickly in his bag in case another classmate should catch on what it is, and settles into a class that passes as if played at double speed, effortless and easy without the nuisance who’d usually make it drag on for forevers.

No Jeonghan. It’s a good class.

And then it ends, and he finally reads the texts that had came through during a pop-quiz, that had earned him a stern look before he’d turned his phone off. The easy feeling instantly sky-rockets back into panic. Joochan and Jangjun are back, early.


	33. Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (apologies for any typos...i tried to edit this...its just so long pls forgive me 🙏😅)

“You’re going,” Seungcheol says, immediately.

They’re lingering outside Sungyoon’s dorm, because just as they’d been preparing to say their goodbyes Seungcheol had managed to wring the truth out of him, and now refuses to leave Sungyoon’s side until he ha witnessed a touching and heartfelt reunion, no matter how urgently Sungyoon insists it won’t happen.

“He’s working,” Sungyoon reasons. “And, besides, it was Donghyun who told me he was back early, and if he didn’t tell me himself then maybe that mean he doesn’t want-”

“Screw that,” the wolf laughs. “How many excuses are you going to come up with today?”

Sungyoon throws up his hands. “At least a few more!”

The wolf rolls his eyes in a way that manages to look fond and amused. “Come on, I’ll come with you.”

Somehow, Sungyoon doesn’t find that very reassuring. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

At least Seungcheol has the sense not to lie. He tips his head, considering this, and then admits, “No, but it’s better than avoiding him forever and I don’t trust you not to do that, so, I’m inviting myself.”

Sighing, Sungyoon shakes his head. “Hang on a second- _Seungcheol!”_ It’s too late though, and even before he’s yelling the wolf has grabbed him, and his stomach swoops as he’s suddenly gripping the back of the older boy’s jacket, over his shoulder, feet off of the ground. “Put me down!”

“You can’t be trusted with this!”

“I’m being serious, Cheol, put me down _now.”_

He doesn’t, and the wolf’s managed to stride forward a few paces before Sungyoon growls and jams an elbow into his back.

“ _Aw_!” Seungcheol groans, almost dropping him. “Are all humans this vicious?” He’s still walking, and Sungyoon prepares to repeat the blow, but then the alpha seems to sense what he’s about to do, and stoops, planting Sungyoon’s feet back on the ground. Then he squints. “Why do you suddenly look like you want to kill me?”

Sungyoon’s voice catches in angry, strangled sounds, and he throws up his hands and starts striding away. “ _Alphas.”_ If only Seungmin could hear him now.

Seungcheol rushes to keep pace with him, asking no more questions, not saying anything for the rest of the walk, because now they’re no longer edging closer to Sungyoon’s dormitory, but away, and when he passes a window and startles as barks erupt on the other side, he realises Sungyoon’s taken him to the pet shop.

“Hey, this is where-”

Sungyoon doesn’t seem in the mood to even listen to his question though, much less answer it, and he’s already barrelling ahead, swinging the door open and stepping into the little shop amongst the chaos of barking puppies and the groan of an old heater above the doorway. He glances around, not seeming to notice the moment the puppies lose interest in Seungcheol and quiet down, seeing the empty aisles ahead of them and turning to the left, where Seungcheol follows to see a double check-out against one wall, and an elegant, familiar boy perching on top of the countertop, one leg crossed over the other.

Joochan looks a little surprised to see them, glancing up from fiddling with the cuff of a pinstripe blazer. “Hello, Sungyoon.”

Sungyoon gives him a tight smile. “ _Hi_ , Joochan,” he says, and then his fist closes around the collar of a silk shirt and he’s yanking Joochan from the countertop and against a refrigerator beside the registers. Joochan huffs, but it’s more a subtle show of annoyance than surprise.

“Hey, hey, hey-” Seungcheol rushes up to Sungyoon’s side “-I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

Joochan doesn’t look at him, returning Sungyoon’s glare as if he doesn’t notice the anger directed at him, even with Sungyoon’s hand balled in the fabric of his shirt, drawing it tight around his neck. “There’s a problem?” he asks.

“I asked you to stop interfering,” Sungyoon says. 

“It’s what I do,” the Fae says, shrugging as much as he’s able. Sungyoon gets the strangest sense that he’s not the only one unhappy about it, and it only makes him madder, that Joochan might think himself guiltless, because he can’t change his nature. Sungyoon doesn’t believe in things like that.

“I didn’t want any fights,” he says sharply, “I told you that. I told all of you that.”

For the first time, Joochan’s eyes leave Sungyoon, glancing at the older boy over his shoulder. “He didn’t get in any fights, did he?” he asks, still looking at Seungcheol.

Sungyoon scoffs. “You can’t have known that when you sent him.”

The way Joochan smiles, though, that sharp Fae smile Sungyoon has gotten so used to seeing on someone else, seems to suggest he did. “That Fae boy keeps him on a tight leash,” he says, meanly, and Seungcheol grumbles.

“ _Dog puns_? You know, I’m really not above holding you down for him.”

Pleased, Joochan rests his head back against the fridge. “Yes you are.”

“So that’s it?" Sungyoon asks incredulously. "You’re going to pretend this was all in my best interest and you knew that the rabid wolf you sent my way was just going to roll over and do as I said?”

“Again with the dog jokes,” Seungcheol huffs. 

“Yeah, they do that,” a dry voice says. All heads turn towards the sound.

Jangjun’s standing at the end of an aisle to their left, holding a bag of pet food in one hand. Sungyoon doesn’t know how long he’s been there. He glances between Joochan with his back against the fridge and the boy holding him there. “Sungyoon?”

Sungyoon releases Joochan’s collar and steps back. Before he can think of anything to say, Jangjun’s eyes have already left him, settling on the older boy who’d shuffled closer to Sungyoon’s back, staring back at him. “Who the hell are you?”

“Seungcheol.”

“Right,” Jangjun nods, his voice breathy in a way that makes it sound strangely angrier than Sungyoon’s had ever sounded. Dark eyes flicker to his, and Jangjun’s brows rise to his hairline. “I’m away for a week and you already have another wolf hanging around you?”

Sungyoon gasps a laugh. “You might want to ask Joochan what _he_ was doing the week you were away.”

Emotionlessly, Jangjun turns to the Fae. His voice is level as he asks, “You had something to do with this?”

Joochan shrugs, stepping away from the refrigerators, righting his collar. “You told me to look out for him, didn’t you?”

Jangju’s hands jump up in a strange motion, as if he were going to cover his face, and then stopped himself. They lower slowly, and his words follow just as slow, awfully level compared to the look in his eyes. “It’s a simple instruction, Chan,” he says. “Should I be asking someone else from now on, since you clearly can’t seem to wrap your head around the concept?”

“How about just letting me walk around without a bodyguard all the time?” Sungyoon suggests, feeling like a broken record. “That’s never occurred to you?”

“Sungyoon,” Jangjun says, very carefully, voice clipped, “would you care to explain why you have a bruise on your neck?”

“What?”

Seungcheol seems to understand before he does, and holds up his hands, this time in a gesture of innocence. “It isn’t what you think, buddy.”

“For your sake, it better fucking not be, _buddy_ -”

Seungcheol groans, chin tipped up toward the ceiling, cutting off whatever threat might have followed. “Would you let him explain before you kill me, please? I said it wasn’t what it looked like. Your lovely Fae friend asked me to fill in when you were away, I did, there’s really nothing else to it.”

There’s a moment of silent comprehension, and then Jangjun eyes him suspiciously. “You’re _that_ alpha then, are you?”

Seungcheol sighs. Every time his reputation is mentioned, he seems to like it less. “I wasn’t here to cause trouble.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Sungyoon tells him. “You’re apparently the only person who trusts me worth a damn anyway, so, now that that’s clear, I think it’s time we were leaving.” Instinctively, Seungcheol follows him, when Sungyon starts to take a step back, and Jangjun’s eyes flicker between them, hesitating only a moment before he’s lurching forward.

“Alright, wait,” he says, too loudly, an arm raised in Sungyoon’s direction as if to snag his wrist, but not touching him. “I- I don’t know why I did that, I’m sorry. I didn’t know Joochan sent him.” He glances at Seungcheol awkwardly, and the older boy seems to catch the apology in his shuffling, and come to his rescue with a laugh.

“No hard feelings," he reassures him. "I thought you knew about all this.”

Jangjun gives Joochan an askance, glowering look. “I wasn’t informed.”

Absently, as the two wolves face each other, both attempting smiles, one more successfully than the other, Sungyoon’s hand lifts to graze the skin at his neck. He’s almost forgotten about hiding the bruise, grown so faint against his skin and almost hidden in the collar of a sweater anyway, but it’d caught Jangjun’s eye anyway. He’d really thought it was a bite? 

Seungcheol notices the movement out of the corner of his eye, and makes some terrible excuse to leave the two of them alone, somehow managing to take a chastised Joochan along with him. Sungyoon had barely been listening, so that when he’s standing in front of Jangjun by himself, he doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know the kind of explanation he should be giving. 

“Joochan can tell me himself,” Jangjun says, as if reading his mind. “I...shouldn’t have reacted that badly.”

“You didn’t tell me you were back early.”

Jangjun surprises him again by laughing, a quiet, airy sound that must be self-deprecating, considering the way his smile twists ruefully as he walks behind the counter. “I was going to text,” he says, and just as he picks it up, Sungyoon notices his phone beside the register. “I just didn’t know what to say.”

_At least I’m not the only one, then._

“When does your shift end?” Sungyoon says instead.

A strange look passes over Jangjun’s face. He swipes a hand across the countertop, almost smiling, and then rests his elbows against the wood, so he has to look up to meet Sungyoon’s eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”

The strange look might be nostalgia, might be resignation. Either way, it makes Sungyoon frown. “I don’t understand.”

Jangjun smiles as if that’s to be expected, straightening again. “I leave too often,” he sighs. “It won’t last anyway.”

Sungyoon remembers the first time he’d stepped inside this store, the look on Jangjun’s face as they’d walked around together, how he’d pointed out every animal, how the dogs all barked at his arrival, and how the parrot screeches at everyone but him. “I thought you liked it here.”

Jangjun shrugs, slapping the counter casually as he drops his phone into a pocket and steps back out into the store, away from the register. “This is what happens when you have things you can’t tell people.”

It’s clearly directed at him, a subtle warning, but Jangjun seems so unhappy to be saying it that Sungyoon can’t find it in himself to be angry.

“What’re you going to do?” he asks, watching helplessly as Jangjun unclips the little nametag on his shirt and sets it on the counter.

The lycan shrugs. “For now, I’m going to go find Jibeom and feel sorry for myself for a while.”

“There’s really no way for you to stay?”

Jangjun’s already walking past him. “There’s no _reason_ to, Yoon,” he says, starting down an aisle. “When I disappear next month, they’d get rid of me anyway. Best leave on good terms. Almost good, anyway.” He’s going further into the shop, and Sungyoon follows, to the fish tanks against the back wall where he’d met Jaehyun for the first time, watching Jangjun disappear into the door beside the tanks and returning with his dark coat slung over his arms, a ring of keys in his hands.

“But-”

“Come on,” Jangjun laughs, taking a few steps toward the front of the store, turning to look back when he realises Sungyoon isn’t following him this time. His sad smile quirks slyly. “You can walk me home.”

Sighing, a sound that’s somehow half-laughter, Sungyoon lets Jangjun lead them both out of the store for the last time, silently waiting as the lycan locks the front door and crouches, throwing the keys through the door’s cat flap as far as he can. There’s a rattle as they skid across the floor inside, and he’s straightening, and this time, the smile looks more sincere, bittersweet, still, but genuine, like a load has been lifted from his shoulders.

“Give me that,” he says, as he spots Sungyoon again, and grabs the backpack Sungyoon had forgotten he was still carrying. Seungcheol hadn’t given him time to drop his things off at his dorm room before insisting on coming here, and Jangjun’s eyes widen a little as he swings the bag onto his own shoulder, feeling textbooks slide about within.

They start walking back to campus.

“Do I want to ask what happened when I was away?” Jangjun asks, and Sungyoon laughs ruefully, not really sure why he’s doing it, not meeting his eye.

“Let's talk about something else,” he suggests.

And they do, all the way back. At one point, Jangjun goes quiet, but Sungyoon looks over to see he’s just staring down at his phone, texting someone that must be Jibeom, and they end up not going back to the house, but, surprisingly, find themselves called over from a bench outside the music department, where Daeyeol and Jibeom had set up camp, steaming flasks in front of them, soft music floating from Jibeom’s phone.

“What’re you two doing _here_?” Jangjun asks, amused, as they pull him and Sungyoon onto the benches beside them, under the dim orange glow of a streetlight that’s just flickering to life. 

“It’s nice out,” Jibeom says, shrugging, and Sungyoon realises that he’s right, that the air is milder than it’s been for a while, the sky just starting to turn from washed out blue-grey to a deeper sunset color.

“We’re not interrupting date night, are we?”

Jibeom gags, and Daeyeol rolls his eyes at him. “No,” he says, to Sungyoon. “Bomin was just on his way here, actually.”

Bomin isn’t the only one who joins them, either, when news of Jangjun’s quitting circulates. Youngtaek and Jaehyun show up with the angel, and then, as the sun begins to slip behind the taller buildings, Seungmin and Donghyun appear together, hand in hand. Sungyoon doubles over laughing at the surprise that flashes across Jangjun’s face. Joochan joins later, more quietly.

“I can’t believe I have to put up with you _more_ now,” Bomin complains, not for the first time, and Jangjun beside him laughs viciously and slings an arm around his shoulders, jostling him closer.

“You’re never getting rid of me,” he sighs, “I can be there to wake you up in the morning-” Bomin groans “-and walk you to your classes-” another groan, “-and I’ll be there when you get home-”

“Joochan didn’t you say there was a vacancy in your cafe?” Bomin whines, face twisted with anguish, but even Sungyoon can tell that he doesn’t quite mean it, that it’s more for Jangjun’s benefit that he’s whining, just to make him laugh, and it works. The quiet that had clung so uncharacteristically to Jangjun since they’d left the shop has all but vanished, and with it, Sungyoon finds his own mood lightening just enough that he’s able to face the Fae slouching silently at the end of his bench.

“Seungcheol left, then?”

Joochan glances up at him, startled that he’s talking to him. “He said he’d call,” he mumbles. He’s acting so unlike himself that Sungyoon almost apologises. But he doesn’t, because he’s not sure he’d really mean it yet. The tension between them fades ever so slightly, all the same.

“It’s getting late,” Jibeom says, on Sungyoon’s other side, a while later. “You’ll be hungry.”

Sungyoon rolls his eyes. “You _do_ know I can skip a meal every now and again without keeling over, right?”

Daeyeol, on the other side of the table, catches their conversation and leans forward. “Well, you’ll be cold, won’t you?”

“I’m fine,” Sungyoon lies. He’d been trying not to shiver for the better part of an hour as the night had begun to steal the warmth from the air, but if he admits that, he knows what will happen. They’ll call it a night, and insist it isn’t because of him that they’re all going their separate ways, and when they’re back at the flat Daeyeol will only ask him more questions until Sungyoon lets himself be fussed over, just as they’d done countless times before. He kicks his legs under the table, knocking over his bag over where it’d been sitting under his spot on the bench.

“I can go get you something to eat,” Bomin suggests, leaning towards him just as Daeyeol had done. Jangjun, beside him, pushes him back too late, and the angle throws him a confused, irritable glance.

“I’m good, actually,” Sungyoon says. He turns and grabs his bag, slipping a hand inside, pulling something free, dropping the backpack under the bench again. Bomin nods, pleased, and turns his attention away again.

Joochan turns a moment too late, to see Sungyoon swallow.

He hits the container away, but it’s done already, and all heads have turned to stare at him suddenly on his feet, standing over Sungyoon who blinks up at him with wide eyes that aren’t at all surprised.

“Joochan?” Someone asks, and then Sungyoon starts clutching his head.

Jibeom catches him just before he falls off of the bench, gasping as he feels the human’s weight toppling into his arms. Sungyoon gasps, face contorted, and Jibeom curses and guides him backwards, so he slips more gently from the bench and onto the cobblestones. Jangjun is on his feet, already halfway around the bench toward them, but Joochan is white as a ghost, locked in place, a little plastic box in his hand.

“What is that?” Jangjun says, almost in passing, too panicked to pay much attention as he passes, but then his eyes flicker up to Joochan’s expression, and then back to Sungyoon in the grass. “ _Chan?”_

Jibeom turns around, a horrible look on his face, now surrounded by bodies, everyone crowding around him in the grass. “Chan, what can we do?”

Joochan shakes his head, lips moving but no sound coming out, and Jangjun understands all at once, why Joochan’s holding onto the little box, why Jibeom’s yelling at him for an answer, understanding faster than the rest of them what Sungyoon’s just done.

“Wait, no-”

Sungyoon gives another gasp from the grass. Donghyun and Daeyeol, either side of him, meet each other's gazes.

“Either you do it or I do,” Donghyun says, words coming fast, but the vampire shakes his head, just as frozen as Joochan hovering by the bench, and before Jangjun can do more than take a final step closer he’s gritting his teeth, cursing, and then bringing Sungyoon’s hand up to his lips. Jangjun shouts, words he can’t remember even as he’s saying them, and then Donghyun’s teeth are sinking into Sungyoon’s wrist.


	34. Resolution

The light above them is dull, and flickering. In the late hour, it does little to illuminate the shady corners of the tiny room, and Seungmin pulls his legs up to his chest, boots on the edge of his seat, feeling small and uncertain as the bulb wavers, shadows growing up around him and retreating again with every stroke of light. He can hear a soft voice in the hall, just outside the door he’d cracked open, soothing and level. Joochan. No doubt he’s charming one of the nurses into forgetting their impromptu visit to the infirmary, when the rest of campus had already shut down for the night. Jibeom whispers something, harder to interpret, and there’s a laugh that belongs to neither of them. Seungmin settles a little further down in his uncomfortable chair and glances over at the bed.

Donghyun’s sitting on the end of it, hunch-backed and motionless, in the same position he’d been in since they arrived, staring down at the boy stretched out below him. Sungyoon's eyes are closed as if he were asleep, though every few moments his lips turn down, brows furrow, muscles clench in his jaw, as if the sleep were riddled with nightmares. Worse, there are the pained gasps, and worst of all the silences that follow, where Seungmin can tell Donghyun holds his breath, counts every second. 

Jangjun’s standing by the window, arms crossed. He looks so blank that Seungmin can’t bring himself to look straight at him, as if all his anger and desperation and fear have been washed away. The bulb flickers off, and then on again. There’s a hesitant knock on the door.

Jibeom shuffles in, without Joochan.

“Any change?”

Seungmin shakes his head, knowing he’s the one one in the room likely to offer any kind of answer.

“Joochan’s stationing himself outside,” Jibeom says, filling the silence, uncertain what else he can do to help. “He’s still not certain what kind of rules there are for this kind of thing, but he thinks it’s better if no one knows about it, for now.”

 _Until we see if this works_ , goes unsaid. Seungmin tries not to wince. Joochan had still been uncooperative in discussing the intricacies of whatever effect the cake would actually have had on Sungyoon without Donghyun’s interference, but Seungmin can guess, probably better than any of the others. He wants to do something, wants to find a way to help, feels restless with it, at the same time as being rooted to his chair, wants to sink into it and close his eyes and pretend this is just a bad dream. He’s caught between both, the fatigue and the restlessness, flickering between them like the bulb stuttering above his head.

“This is taking too long,” Jangjun says suddenly.

All of them look up at him, by the window.

“How long is it _supposed_ to take?”

Donghyun's eyes widen, seeing Seungmin’s question directed at himself. “How am I supposed to know?” he asks incredulously. “It’s not as if I’ve bitten anyone before. It could take days.”

Jibeom sighs. “Then there’s no reason for us all being here, is there? We’re just crowding him.”

“You should get back to Daeyeol,” Seungmin tells him, smiling gently. “He’ll have his hands full with Jae and Youngtaek.”

The druid shakes his head. “I’m taking at least one of you with me,” he insists, looking around as if waiting for a volunteer. Seungmin looks around too, at Donghyun’s hands fidgeting in the scratchy infirmary blanket, Jangjun’s silhouette by the window.

“Alright,” he sighs. “I’ll come. I should get out of this chair.” Groaning, he stands, stretching out the aching muscles in his back. No one but Jibeom pays him any attention, and he hesitates, but takes a step up to the bed and slings his arms around Donghyun’s neck, just for a moment, resting his chin on top of the other boy’s head before he pulls away. Donghyun turns to give him a small smile as Seungmin’s stepping through the door, which isn’t much, but it’s something.

Then there’s three of them: one by the window, two on the bed. After a while, Jangjun steps around them to the chair Seungmin had vacated and settles there, uncomfortably straight-backed. Another muffled sound of pain has him leaning forward, elbows on his knees, though his face looks just as impassive. Donghyun catches the movement in the corner of his eye and instinctively turns toward it, immediately regrets looking. Of course he feels guilty looking at Sungyoon. But he feels worse, looking at Jangjun.

 _It was the only thing you could do,_ Seungmin had reassured him. 

_Was it?_ Donghyun had asked. He hadn’t really believed his instinct had been right. But Seungmin had nodded, fiercely, taking his hands, and he wouldn’t let go until he looked at his face.

 _No one else knew what to do,_ he’d said, more gently than Donghyun had heard him say anything. _Just because you were fastest doesn’t mean you did something wrong. You’re the only one who helped him._

And Donghyun _does_ think he helped. It’s just hard to keep thinking that, when he can remember the things Jangjun had screamed at him on the way here.

“I’m sorry,” he says, for what feels like the hundredth time, looking at Sungyoon, but talking to someone else.

Jangjun sighs and settles back into his chair, closer to the shadows, face half cloaked with darkness with every flicker of the bulb. “I know,” he says, his voice just as hollow as his expression, though it’s gravelly with abuse. “It’s not only you I’m angry at.”

It’s not really forgiveness, but Donghyun hadn’t been expecting that anyway- this seems, at least, like Jangjun’s kind of apology, that even if he can’t lie and tell him he forgives him, he can tell him that all of the screaming wasn’t really directed at him.

Donghyun looks back to the boy on the bed below him. “You think he knew.” It’s not a question, because he’d been thinking the same, ever since the initial panic had passed.

“He has a lot of notes on Fae,” Jangjun says. “Pretty sure this was one of them.”

It’s not something he doesn’t know- Donghyun thinks that the two of them must be the ones most knowledgeable about Sungyoon’s notes, Donghyun because he’d explained most himself, and laughed when Sungyoon had taken to immediately noting them down, Jangjun because he was always looking over Sungyoon’s shoulder, trying to peek. He knows that there are plenty of notes in Sungyoon’s phone that would have cautioned against taking a gift from a Fae, from eating Fae food, even if there wasn’t already an alarm bell going in the back of his mind that Jeonghan had given him something. Sungyoon must have known not to do it.

“But he didn’t know what it would do to him,” Donghyun argues, feeling the need to defend him even when maybe he shouldn't. “ _We_ don’t even know what it would do to him.”

“No,” Jangjun says, inclining his head. Donghyun doesn’t like the look in the eyes staring back at him. “But I think he knew what _you_ would do.”

“I don’t regret it,” he confesses.

“I know,” Jangjun repeats. And then he sighs, and swipes a hand across his face as if the stress and fear had finally begun turning itself into fatigue. “You should rest.”

Donghyun frowns. “So should you.”

The reaction is exactly what he’d expected it to be- Jangjun would probably chain himself to that chair before he left Sungyoon with anyone. Most of all him, Donghyun thinks, after what he’d done.

“I’m not leaving,” the lycan says immediately. His voice is hard, leaving no room for argument this time. “But there’s no point both of us being here, if you think it could take days.” He offers Donghyun a small smile, barely there, as he tips his head toward the door. He doesn't mention the chance of the bite not working.

“Go on,” he prompts. “You’ll be the first to know if anything changes.”

Sungyoon’s expression clears, the bout of pain gone, the sleep he seems to be trapped in turning peaceful again. Donghyun takes it for a good omen. He reluctantly gets to his feet.

“Alright.” He hesitates, wasting time fixing his clothes so he doesn’t need to leave yet, but Jangjun glares at him and looks like he’s about to say something, and so he chuckles under his breath, and steps away. “You’ll tell me first,” he says, at the door. “If anything changes.”

“I’ll tell you first,” Jangjun agrees, nodding. Now he’s really faced with the idea of walking home, Donghyun really doesn’t want to leave, but it looks as if Jangjun would chase him out if he were to change his mind now, anyway, so he takes the easier option and turns around. Jangjun listens to his footsteps fade, and the distant sound of a door sliding closed. Then it’s just the two of them. Jangjun taps his fingertips on the arm of his chair.

“If you wake up, I’m going to kill you,” he tells Sungyoon, and gets no answer. The bulb flickers and illuminates the hollows of the sleeping boy’s face, making him look younger, and thinner, like a reprimand, and Jangjun swallows, sits back, and closes his eyes.

He doesn’t sleep, doesn’t let himself, but he manages at one point to get lost in his thoughts. He thinks about how it all started so ridiculously, with Jibeom’s horrible suggestion to get the two of them closer, how crazy he’d thought Sungyoon was when he agreed to it. He almost laughs, at the memory. He supposes he should have expected Sungyoon to keep doing crazy things. He just didn’t think it would be anything _this_ crazy.

He goes back to staring at the other boy’s face, watching for any minuscule shifts, imagining changes that aren’t really there, tricks of light and wishful thinking. He remembers the look on Sungyoon’s face the day they’d walked together after Sungyoon had found out everything, how different it felt just to walk side by side again, this time with someone who knew far more than Jangjun ever wanted him to know. How strange it was, all of Sungyoon’s excited questions, to realise that someone might just be curious, and accepting, and not all of the things Jangjun had expected them to be. He remembers the night after the movie, when he’d realised again just how strange Sungyoon was, how crazy and how clever and how stubborn. He shouldn’t have ran away so quickly. Maybe if they’d talked more about it, Sungyoon wouldn’t have taken matters so recklessly into his own hands. But of course, that’s probably just wishful thinking too. They’re too different. Jangjun would never have wanted this for himself. He can’t begin to guess what goes on in Sungyoon’s mind.

Now, his expression is twisted. In his sleep, his lips have parted slightly, and the muffled sounds of pain he’d been making have turned into more audible gasps, no more than air, but thunderously loud to Jangjun’s ears, in the silence of the dark room. They don’t change, continue for a long time, until Jangjun starts to think he’s not just imagining the way the room is beginning to brighten with morning, but with every one his worry deepens. Sungyoon might not really be getting worse, but he’s not getting better.

Not feeling angry is strange. He’d been angry when it happened, angry when he’d watched Donghyun bite down, angry when they’d first shuffled into this room and collectively stared down at Sungyoon’s prone form, even thought about finding Jeonghan himself and- doing something. Maybe just getting it out of him what it was he’d given Sungyoon. But it had been a passing thought. The anger had lingered in the back of his mind, but hadn’t called for action. More than anger, he’d felt something ending, slipping through his fingers.

Sungyoon gasps and turns in his sleep. Jangjun jolts at the movement, the most Sungyoon had done since he’d got here. Now, the boy’s facing him, on his side, fists pulled into his chest, knees bent, looking small. If he’d been awake and knew Jangjun was thinking that, Sungyoon would be snapping at him already, admonishing, chastising. Now, he just gives another little gasp.

And then his eyes struggle open.

Jangjun’s chair scrapes backward. He leans forward, so their faces are only an inch apart, but he hadn’t been imagining it- Sungyoon’s eyelids are fluttering, weighed down with sleep, but opening, and in only a second they’re open fully, and Sungyoon’s blinking at him. In the darkness, his eyes are a dark crimson.

“Yoon,” Jangjun breathes.

The red eyes blink at him, dazed, but Sungyoon slips sleep quickly, and they clear, staring back at him with just as much surprise as Jangjun’s staring at them.

“Idiot,” Jangjun calls him. “Reckless, selfish idiot.” Sungyoon blinks at him again, the red in his eyes fading. And then he laughs.

Jangjun deflates into his chair, feeling all air himself. Suddenly, they’re both laughing, and Jangjun’s covering his face with his hands, and Sungyoon’s wrestling with his blankets to sit up, back against his scratchy pillows, pale and shaking, but awake, fully awake.

“Idiot,” Jangjun says again, voice muffled by his hands, and Sungyoon’s laugh is stronger now, less husky, and he reaches out and gently takes one of Jangjun’s away from his face.

“Your bedside manner needs some work,” he says, and there’s a tiny smile at his lips, just the edges turned up, dry and fond and almost rueful. “This isn’t the welcome back I was wanting.”

“You owe me so many apologies,” Jangjun tells him.

Sungyoon grins, looking down at their hands, where their fingers interlock. Jangjun’s skin doesn’t feel feverish anymore. “We said we’d stop doing that, remember?”

“Yeah, well, we’re going to start again,” Jangjun says. His voice is dry, meant to make Sungyoon laugh, but the mirth doesn’t reach his expression. His eyes haven’t stopped flying over Sungyoon’s face since his eyes opened, trying to spot the differences, wondering how he looks even sharper now, even colder, already as if the change is visible on his face. He’s not aware of how tight his grip is around Sungyoon’s fingers, but neither is Sungyoon, anymore.

“You scared me.”

“I’m sorry,” Sungyon says, and though he knows it’s sincere, Jangjun can tell it’s not regretful. Though he’d been shivering, now and again, in his sleep, Sungyoon kicks off the blanket now.

“D’you remember anything?” Jangjun asks.

Sungyoon looks away, out of the window, thinking. Then he looks back, and shrugs. “Nothing after the bite.”

A shadow crosses over Jangjun's face, whatever had tried to show there immediately hidden, smoothed away. He turns their hands, so he can see a slither of Sungyoon's wrist, though he knows he'll only see the bloodied bandage Jibeom had tied there when they'd realised the bite wouldn't stop bleeding. “It hurt?”

Sungyoon scoffs. “Like shoving my arm in molten metal.”

“Good," Jangjun sighs, turning their hands again, "you deserved it.”

Sungyoon just rolls his eyes. Then he frowns, remembering something that he'd mistaken for a dream. “Did you say you were going to kill me?”

“Yes,” Jangjun says, and then tugs his hand so sharply Sungyoon falls forward, and Jangjun can slot their lips together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah it's the last chapter! i never expected this fic to turn into the giant that it did, but i had sooooo much fun writing this :)  
> for the people who've made it this far, I hope you enjoyed it as much as i did! and happy holidays! xxx <3


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